


The Guildmaster's Quiver

by Corehealer



Series: Burden and Belonging: Sarah's Shadow - Emet-Selch/WoL Ship Shadowbringers and Ongoing FFXIV Fanfiction [10]
Category: Ascian - Fandom, Final Fantasy XIV, Shadowbringers - Fandom
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Accidental Plot, Accidental Relationship, Bards, F/F, F/M, Gridania (Final Fantasy XIV), Love Triangles, Memory Loss, Memory Magic, Mentors, Multi, Old Friends, Other, Self-Discovery, Soul Bond, The Convocation of Fourteen (Final Fantasy XIV), The Echo (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 42,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27391891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corehealer/pseuds/Corehealer
Summary: A chapter based slightly longform fanfic exploring some ideas I've had recently, and exploring a character I specifically enjoy a great deal and would like to elevate, at least within the sphere of fanfiction. Also a Convocation of Fourteen piece.Post 5.3 and occurring six years after the post Calamity start date of 1577, in an invented chronology where game events took place over a long, real life equivalent span of time. Featuring a FWoL, my character Sarah Corehealer, in keeping with the continuity of my main series (of which this can be considered a bit of a spin off), but which focuses on one character, establishing them for use in the series as it continues into 5.4 content fanon.Archer Guildmaster Luciane Corne has been given the gift of the Echo in a sudden, apparently accidental experience of Hydaelyn's visions in her mind, rendering her weakened and unable to fulfill her role as guildmaster of the Archer's Guild in Gridania. Gifted in this sense but bereft of the Blessing of Light, she travels to Revenant's Toll and other locales to meet the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, seeking answers and aid. In this journey, she becomes reacquainted with a former pupil, and an even older former friend.
Relationships: Luciane Corne | Original Characters (FFXIV), Luciane Corne | Warrior of Light (FFXIV), Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Original Character(s), Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Warrior of Light
Series: Burden and Belonging: Sarah's Shadow - Emet-Selch/WoL Ship Shadowbringers and Ongoing FFXIV Fanfiction [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913674
Kudos: 6





	1. Sixteenth Sun of the Fifth Astral Moon, 1583.

**_ The Journal of Luciane Corne Traihaveur, dated eleven years after the Seventh Umbral Calamity. _ **

**_Sixteenth Sun of the Fifth Astral Moon, 1583._ **

_‘I suppose, it would be prudent, to begin with a name.’_

_‘My name, for any who may come to read this account, is Luciane Corne. I am the Guildmaster of the Archer’s Guild of Gridania, elementals keep it safe. A post I have held for nigh on twenty summers as of the time of this writing.’_

_‘And I am writing in this journal at the behest of… well, for lack of any real depth for words, I can only say it was by dual urgencies that I was driven to this course. To record something that has… even in a short time, changed my life.’_

_‘I shall return to that in a moment. Some context, first.’_

_‘I was born in a somewhat happier time during the Third Umbral Moon of 1544, under a beautiful starry sky, or so my mother always told me. Something I always enjoyed about the sky on clear nights was her memory; she died when I was young, leaving just me and my father for most of my life. Gridania herself, and her people, became the rest of my family, with time.’_

_‘I grew up with great admiration for her, and for my father, a leader of the Gods' Quiver in the days of my youth, who preceded Bowlord Lewin in his current post before passing away some summers past. His was a keen sense for the wind and the trees, almost as connected to the Twelveswood as any among the Hearers or Padjal. But for him the expression of this connection to the natural world came not from magic, but most fully from his mastery of the longbow.’_

_‘In a simple piece of shaped wood, he found the means to not only understand and commune with his home among the forest canopy, but also to defend it. And this he did for going on fifty summers, in quiet devotion to all that he held dear. His life was a long and happy one, enriched as it was by the company of his companions in the Quiver, who supported him even when he was left alone in this world with just me.’_

_‘He always said, though, that it was my life and my happiness that he enjoyed the most of all, that he cherished over aught else in the world. He showed me his trade even in my earliest years without hesitation, as much to bond with me as to try and provide me with a means to find my own way.’_

_‘By imitating him, I learned with time to become an archer myself, whose skills left those around me with reverence and kind words for me.’_

_‘A reverence they had possessed for his own skill, once, and one which I had shared and now mirrored in my craft. Looking back on it, I may as well have been a continuation of his own life. Much as I valued it and the acclaim it brought me, it never truly felt like something I had achieved, this skill. Strange, to write it like that now…’_

_‘It was my father’s dream that I follow in his footsteps and become a Quiverman of the God’s Quiver, and lend my strength and true aim to Gridania’s defense. But I was someone who called after the road, in my maiden years after my eighteenth nameday. Full of youthful energy and a desire to see more of Eorzea. To journey where the wind took me.’_

_‘I think on some level he was afraid to let me pass from his fingers, even as he wished to let me live how I chose. To not lose me to some poor twist of fate, or simply to time. I was all he had left, most days, many of his other friends having already passed in one manner or another. And I could not bear, ultimately, to make a choice that left him all alone.’_

_And so, as a compromise, I chose instead to teach others my skills, and to seek my fortune in the Archers' Guild, where I became leader after some summers spent in trials for the post. A compromise that allowed for adventure, in the form of adventurers, to come to me and bring their tales and their diverse personalities to me. And it afforded me a steady income, a chance to serve my city, and a welcoming family in my fellow guildmates. An ideal existence.’_

_‘My father was there, in old age, to watch as I took the oath of service before the Elder Seedseer and the Bowlord in the Lotus Stand. The look of pride and joy on his wizened features when I took the post… it is a sight I shall never forget.’_

_‘Gods, I miss him. I miss them both so much, every day.’_

_‘I’ve had a long and storied career within the Guild, leading it as I have through no less than the tribulations of the Calamity and aught that occurred afterwards. And just as I had anticipated, even before that terrible time, adventurers came to our fair city seeking the knowledge so crucial to their chosen profession in the form of the spear, the healing arts, and the bow. I found many willing to learn, and a few who were capable.’_

_‘My heart was full in those years even after my father passed. Watching others grow under my guidance was an endlessly satisfying experience. And the Guild prospered, even when so much else was left devastated in the wake of the Calamity.’_

_‘I even recruited the Warrior of Light herself, some six summers past now, long before they came to be Eorzea’s saviour. To watch her and her adventuring allies save the realm time and again, using the skills I had imparted to her among many others, was to swell with some small measure of pride. And no small measure of envy, at their freedom. To journey where the wind took them…’_

_‘That all seems like another life ago now. Even though it was only a few weeks ago that all was normal.’_

_‘The time for me to impart my skills appears increasingly to be at an end… I return now to the purpose of this journal.’_

_‘I have left the guild, as of today, under the joint responsibility of Leih Aliapoh, Silvairre and the Bowlord as I take a leave of absence. A temporary measure, though I know not for how long. I have been stricken with a strange illness that has left my body weak, and my mind strained. And more startling and troubling developments besides.’_

_‘A voice has begun speaking to me the past few nights, repeating strange words in my mind, but with only three words remaining clear to my hearing.’_

**_‘Hear. Feel. Think.’_ **

_‘I come then to my first reason for this journal; a desire to recount the… strange visions I have been having these past few nights. The voice that has begun to speak to me and the bright blue light that attends it always. To heed the advice of the Hearers and the Conjurers, who now seek to treat this strange affliction, which has left me drained and debilitated. Unable to fulfill my role as Guildmaster, for the nonce.’_

_‘No answers are forthcoming as yet, but as I sit within the infirmary of their Guild, I find some solace at least that my people remain safe, and that the Archer’s Guild yet remains in capable hands.’_

_‘The second reason for this journal is a bit more… mundane. I never had cause before now to actually go and do this, but for a long time I have felt the pull of the written word, to record my life while I am yet hale and whole. Many of my people eschew the deeds of a moment in favour of being remembered by the eternal elementals in our midst. I would prefer to keep my legacy in my own hands, not unlike how I prefer the feeling of having an arrow at hand at all times.’_

_‘So it is that I will try to record now this… whatever this is, for my own sake, as I come to terms with it and learn of it. I have the time, after all, as I seek to recover. But also, so that I might finally be able to find some measure of control in this record. Control in my own life, a life that has been something so devoted to duty for so long. In this, at least, I have something that belongs just to me.’_

_‘I guess I hadn’t realized it until now.’_

***

She sighed, and put the quill down. A knock at her door broke her from that thought.

“E-Sumi-Yan is ready for you, Guildmaster.”

“Thank you, I’ll be but a moment.”

The conjurer smiled at her briefly, then stepped from the door and walked down the hall. She listened for his footfalls to turn the distant corner. Silence.

Another sigh.

“Gods, I haven’t been in here since I broke that bone as a child… I’d forgotten how damned quiet it is in here.”

Too used to the rustle of leaves and the bustle of the city’s life. She fidgeted a bit at the desk in her infirmary room. A dull yellow robe of convalescence over tanned skin, like a sickly sun wrapping around her body. She rose from the desk, placing a hand to her hips and lower back.

Sore limbs. She felt drained. Sleepless nights have that effect.

Best get on with it.

She walked out the door and down the hall to the Hearing Chamber.

***

“How are you feeling today, Luciane?” The Padjal smiled up at her.

“Less physically weak today. Just a bit sore and stiff, from being stuck in bed too long like as not. I could stand a day in the drill yard notching arrows to targets, even so.”

He nodded. His assistant passed him a small vial, filled with green liquid, viscous.

“Drink this, it will help continue the realignment of your aether.”

She took it from him and regarded it a moment before offing the cork and dragging it back in a smooth motion. A foul substance, but it went down well enough all the same. She coughed.

“Always the… ugh.. helpful draughts that taste like morbol leavings…”

“A sad reality, but true. Come, sit here a moment with me.”

He beckoned to the floor, near some of the lamps. Incense was burning, and the flowers in the cave’s many water pools swayed lazily in the breeze coming from the distant cave entrance, not far down the main entrance hall. Conjurers and petitioners of all kinds milled about, including the odd adventurer come to heed the wisdom of the elementals and learn their arts, or to pay respects.

They both sat down at the far end of the ring, a meditative position.

“Breathe deep and try to relax now. Let the potion work.”

She breathed a heavy mix of cinnamon, ginger and myrrh, the scents of wood and damp stone not far behind. A small tinge of morning dew and the sweat of those recently come in from the humid daylight outside. She was more aware of such things in this moment.

“Tell me about the most recent vision again.”

She took another breath and then thought back on the blue light.

“A giant… blue mass. Something… I couldn’t quite make it out. It felt like it was trying to speak to me over a great distance.”

“And you could still only make out three words?”

“Hear. Feel. Think.”

He paused, lost in thought.

“The words of the Echo, then… there can be no doubt. I had not dared to believe it at first but… it has been consistent these many days.”

“The… Echo?”

He was silent for several moments. She continued her breathing, trying to remain calm, listening to the murmurs and shuffling feet of those around them.

“Your physical shock is an aftereffect of an… awakening, of sorts. Symptoms that will pass, but that… I do not think the cause of which will. This… Echo as it has come to be called is something not entirely understood as yet, in the conventional sense. But the words and the blue lights are undeniable.”

A sudden piercing gaze, carrying the weight of years and deeper truths from within a youthful visage, horns glimmering in the lamp’s light.

“Hydaelyn has chosen you for Her own.”

At first, a moment of shock. Settling in.

Disbelief. What does this mean? What would it mean?

A flood of questions, some measure of panic.

“Wh-why? How? When?!?”

“Questions with few answers. The why of it? Why does She deign to act in any way? The Twelve are largely silent guardians and witnesses to our deeds, as are the elementals even to those of us who can hear them. Hydaelyn is akin to these forces of the world in Her silence and often enigmatic actions. What I can only guess is… She has need of you for some purpose.”

He looked down at his hands, fumbling through his fingers as he continued.

“As to the how, there is no answer to give. The gift of the Echo, though some might call it a curse, is something that comes suddenly to a chosen few, and remains with them for the rest of their lives. How it comes to reside in any given soul is anyone’s guess.”

“And the when? Probably the last few days, a full turn of the moon at most, based on when you started having the headaches and fatigue.”

She thought back on the moment she had doubled over in pain suddenly in the Guild’s main hall, in her usual spot while observing morning practice. Leih had nearly tripped rushing up to the platform, leaning by her side. Everyone had ceased activity to attend to her.

She had collapsed, and then, found herself in that first dream. A dim blue light in the distance, beckoning her. A ringing sound in her ears. The words she had related.

**Hear. Feel. Think.**

And then, something else, unrepeated.

A line behind her to some ever more distant space, and another blue light.

Something she had not related to any other, more out of confusion. Spoken not in Her voice, but in another, softer tone. A jumble of voices.

A man.

_But through it all, we never, ever forgot what was dear to us. And that’s what gave us the strength to carry on._

Another man, speaking an alien tongue yet discernable.

_Herein I commit the Chronicle of the Traveler. Shepherd to the stars in the dark…_

A woman. A voice she almost recognized?

_Why can you not remember me?_

_Why can you not see me?!?_

_Why do you depart?!_

A third man, firm, confused.

_Fated to fray and fade away…_

E-Sumi-Yan continued to speak, jolting her back to reality.

“We know of this phenomenon from the Scions, among whose number reside those blessed by Mother Hydaelyn with this ‘power’, if it can be called that. A power that is able to peer into the soul of others and therein see their past, most typically. Or occasionally other, stranger sights. I hear tell one among their acquaintance can even see glimpses of possible futures…”

The memory of those disparate words.

_An incantation of eld…_

_What are you…_

Someone familiar speaking… Something tugging at her mind, a tether, unseen.

It was still present in her chest.

Who…

“Luciane?”

She blinked rapidly, before returning her attention to the Padjal.

“Are you alright? You seemed to drift away from me there for a moment. Is aught amiss?”

She looked at the lamp’s glow before here, somewhat wide eyed. Confused.

“I… don’t know what I’ve seen. What I am seeing. Hearing? What… what’s happened to me?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t understand. I feel as though I’ve gone mad.”

A reassuring voice, and the Padjal’s hand on her shoulder.

“It is okay, my old friend. We can stop for the moment.”

Comfort in the words of her old colleague and friend. Soft robes hemmed with herbs.

“I think it best for you to return to your room now and rest, though. The body may be healing well from that first shock, but your mind… I fear you have a much longer road ahead of you on that front.”

A pat on the back. They both rose to their feet slowly.

“Pray take your ease and try to not think about the visions for a time. I can provide a sedative if it will assist with sleep.”

She nodded.

“Perhaps… that would be best.”

She did not wish to so readily return to that… whatever this was. Is. Quite yet.

“We can continue this discussion later after I have attended some things with the Seedseers. Many are anxious to learn of your condition, and I must attend them.”

A thin vial of blue liquid.

“Drink this when you wish to sleep, and try to relax. It will help. Allow the rest of us to attend to matters. We will speak again soon.”

“Thank you, Sumi. I appreciate it… I am sorry for this.”

“No need to apologize; you would do the same for any of us. I just happen to be best positioned to offer succor. Now go.”

A beckoning hand. Another of the conjurers, smiling, holding the door open to whence she had come, the infirmary. She slowly walked inside and down the hall again.

He smiled until she was out of sight. Then, a furrowed brow.

“I’ll need to discuss this with the others. With Senna. This… is a difficult development indeed.”

He motioned for the others to hold down the fort while he made his way to the Lotus.


	2. Twenty Second Sun of Fifth Astral Moon, 1583.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'll be gradually working on picking away at this piece over time, as I find the words. I'm trying to think of how I want it to play out still in full, so bear with me if it takes a while to conclude larger works such as this.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading.
> 
> Additionally, if you like Convocation interactions, I got ideas for approaching that difficult, at present, subject matter soon enough. We don't know enough about each member to really flesh it all out enough for a full, complete accounting of them all, but I would like to breathe just a hint more life into them too. Starting with works like this one, even if they aren't the focus.

**_Twenty Second Sun of Fifth Astral Moon, 1583._ **

_'_ _I feel as though my heart has fallen out from my chest.’_

_‘The Seedseers and the Quiver concurred. The revelation. It was apparent that I had been chosen for something of a higher calling. Something beyond all of them. That Hydaelyn is speaking to me. Why now and not any other time, I know not, but it is apparent. Obvious to them with repeated observation these many days.’_

**_‘A dual loyalty now exists, that cannot coexist.’_ **

_‘Her words. Kan-E-Senna, not just our nation’s leader and wisest guide but a colleague and friend in service of Gridania for most of my life. She said I could not well continue to lead the Guild as I had and heed the all encompassing words of the Mother Crystal. That, for whatever reason, She and the Twelve had now placed this path before me, and that I must walk it. Even if it meant leaving Gridania behind. Even if it was hard.’_

_‘Hard does not do it justice. Even now, arrangements are being made. Replacements for my position catalogued for review. My home sold, my possessions gifted to others or sold for provisions for the road. A blur of activity and unbelievable… acceptance. They all seem so willing to just go along with this! As if it was the most natural thing in the world, to simply accept this answer, this outcome, and send me off to who knows what fate, without so much as a by your leave!’_

_‘I was adamant to her, in the Lotus. I simply needed more time, time to think and recover. Summon the Scions to me! We’ve met them before many times, I’d met their storied hero before, trained her myself! They would come to our aid, I was certain. That they would help me understand this so I would not need to leave.’_

_‘Learn to control it, to live with it.’_

_‘She would not hear me. It was as if the elementals had spoken, their words sacrosanct. Hydaelyn had chosen me. That was all that mattered. I would need to follow Her path wherever it now led me, whether I liked it or not.’_

_‘And what was worse, as if to confirm the need for a new way and despite some measure of recovery, I yet remained weakened from my normal level of health and vigor. I could barely hold the weight of my bow when offered it by Leih and Silvairre when they came to visit me in the infirmary. They’ve left it with me as a gift. ‘For the road’, they said to me…’_

_‘They were not happy with this development. No one was. No one is. But they yet accept it without protest, regardless of my words.’_

_‘I am left alone now in my room, continuing to force food and drink down and regain my strength despite these damnable visions coursing now into my mind at all hours, even when not at rest. Visions not of the Crystal, more often then not, but other things. Things I cannot even begin to describe.’_

_‘I feel a strange pulling sensation and cannot shake it. Like a rope pulling at my heart. I’ve never felt its like before in my life, and every time it sparks the visions return, distorted and confused but somehow familiar all the same. Waking me in the night, leaving me sweating and panting, drained, back to square one.’_

_‘If this is what Hydaelyn considers a gift I want no part in it.’_

***

She threw the quill against the wall and sobbed.

To hells with the journal for now.

She placed herself in her bed face down and let the tears come out. She had been here for days, bored and tormented, forced to relive these visions over and over as their dagger-like sting behind her eyes came at all hours, flooding her mind with undeniable scenes, indecipherable to her. So many voices, most of which felt familiar and yet were invisible to her, mostly being indistinct sounds and colours and the taste of... lavender?

None of it made sense. Sleep was better by far, even with what might await her tonight.

She reached for the blue vial again, the latest in a string of sedatives she'd used to attempt to find rest and dreamless sleep. Occasionally they succeeded, but most of the time they simply clarified the visions that came, just enough that they began to feel less jumbled. Nothing had fallen enough into clarity to be distinct and memorable, or something she could begin to understand, but at the very least there was less of a headache at the end of it.

She drained the vial, threw it at the wall next in anger, and listened as the glass shattered. She cared not who heard; the conjurers had been avoiding her today due to her mood. They would prefer she slept too. Messes were easy to clean up after the fact.

She draped the blankets over her head and laid down, eyes shut firm, willing herself to sleep.

Gradually relaxing, she mumbled, pleading for release from this cycle.

"Whatever I did to deserve this... I'm sorry. Gods... just let it end. Let this end or at the very least... calm down..."

She fell into a deep slumber.

***

"Ariadne."

He was being impatient again.

"Ariadne!"

"Calm down! I'm on my way!"

A long hallway, rows and rows of large, gilded doors, gold and black. Arched lamps ilms between each door, ornate and bright. A few solitary figures in grey robes, walking slowly along the hall, stopping briefly to regard this scene of rushing aether and youthful exuberance. A large individual in a grey robe, with a white mask, calling out to her.

"The presentation is going to begin without you!"

"I said I'm on my way!"

She was running now, barely able to keep her concept crystal firm to her chest. Her robe seemed to blur as she looked down at it, cradling as she was a large blue crystal locked between golden caps.

"They're waiting for you!"

She rounded the corner, into the entrance hall, and then just as quickly sprinted through another set of very large, ornate doors into the main crystal repository of Anamnesis Anyder.

Shuffling feet down the stairs with her large companion. He whispered a quick beratement.

"They told us to be here a bell ago!"

"I had to make sure it was perfect!"

"Would you rather have perfection, or would you rather keep Convocation members waiting?"

"Put like that it's hardly a choice, now is it? It will be fine, Euripides."

He scoffed, but withheld further comment as they reached the floor, rounded a final bend and found themselves amidst a gathered throng of robed figures, each wearing different masks, mostly white or black in continence.

Four figures stood before the crowd, smiling in their direction as they finally came to rest near the front of the group, their presence expected and accounted for. Each individual instantly recognizable to her.

“My sincere apologies, Speaker. I was in a… I wanted to make sure it was just right.” She was slightly winded, eliciting the faintest of chuckles from those in the audience.

“No need to apologize Ariadne. I appreciate the extra effort, even with lateness. It’s something I’ve come to become accustomed to when Azem finds herself perpetually in confrontation with the chronometer during our meetings.”

Slightly louder laughter for a moment from the audience. The woman next to Lahabrea gave him a smirk.

“We had only just started at any rate.” He beamed at her from beneath his red mask, then nodded to the figure next to him in a white mask.

“Venat, if you would be so kind?”

She nodded.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming today to our presentation of the finalist concepts for this year’s annual Astrographical Construct Competition. Our three finalists have been hard at work these past few months creating visible manifestations of the constellations above our Star for use as teaching and navigational aids. This is a concept that will see use across the Star, and as such the competition for this contest has been fierce at times, but our three finalists have persevered to reach this moment.”

“This year, this contest has also come to serve an additional purpose; in addition to the normal awards of academic acclaim, it affords with it a prestigious position as an advisor and secretary to one of the Convocation members present today.”

She glanced over.

“Though they may need no introduction, I present to you three of our revered leaders; the honourable Speaker Lahabrea, the Abyssal Celebrant, Azem, the Traveler, and Emet-Selch, the Angel of Truth.”

Each of the three Convocation members bowed, robes greyish black and each possessed of unique red masks.

“As there are currently three vacancies for said positions, one for each of the members present and their offices, they have opted to join us for this event. Each of our finalists will be given the opportunity today to serve under them at their discretion, and at their choice of finalist, based on their judgement of the offered concepts.”

She beckoned to Euripides, Ariadne and a third individual in the crowd nearby, all holding blue crystals capped with gold.

“Finalists, please step forward.”

They each approached and bowed slightly to the four judges, the three Convocation members and Venat, herself one of the administrators of Anamnesis. She remembered being familiar with each of them, from past interactions and visits and her long stay this past year in the Anyder’s guest creator housing.

“Kallisto, you may present first.”

Kallisto placed her crystal on the provided table, and with a wave of her hand, activated it. The image of a large equine entity, mid sprint, appeared in holographic aether. As soon as it solidified above the crystal, it began to gallop, making the noises of a horse striding across a grassy field. A robed figure sat astride the horse, directing its movement.

She smiled, and gestured to the image.

“The Equestrian, honoured judges.”

A moment of regard, as each of the four judges examined the image, a few running their hands over it before returning them to their chins, thinking.

“Full of life and a little bit of fire. Brings to mind the eastern steppe lands, and the horses we’ve seeded over the years there. They are blessed with boundless night skies under which to run and find rest.” Lahabrea clapped a bit.

“I favour this piece.”

The others nodded assent, first to each other and then to Kallisto, as she balled her hand in a joyous motion.

“Thank you Speaker!”

Venat gestured for her to move her piece to one side. As she did so, Venat continued.

“Euripides, you may present second.”

Her large companion approached the table, placed his crystal down, and waved his hands to activate it. An image of a man appeared, robed with face unguarded and hood down, pouring water from a vase into a waiting stream. Starlight falling like drops of liquid sapphire into a churning line billowing out from the figure in lazy currents.

“The Ewer, honoured judges.”

Emet-Selch approached this image in quick motion, bending down to take in the details.

“ _A soul stream motif, if I am not mistaken. Inspired, young one_.”

“Inspired by your own work, Angel.”

A knowing glance between them. The contest, such as it was, had been decided by this point in advance, with presentation largely a formality for the benefit of the young creators. A chance to share their work with the wider scholarly community of Anamnesis one last time before they returned to Amaurot proper, some distance away.

“ _Brings to my mind the milky white line of the Star’s sisters, as they spread along the sky’s vast expanse in a great harmony, flowing outward in a manner akin to the Underworld’s currents_.”

He smiled and nodded.

“ _I favour this piece_.”

“Thank you Angel; I am honoured.” Euripides deeply bowed, before moving his piece next to Kallisto and her horse.

“Ariadne, you may present third.”

She hefted the weighty crystal carefully and gently placed it before the four judges. A hand wave, exactly as practiced. She couldn’t resist a smile as her own hard work now appeared.

A figure, robed, wind whipping through their white hair from under a hood barely clinging to their head. No mask, but a bright eyed gaze examining the firmament of stars around the image, formed for dramatic effect. In this figure’s hands a large bow, notched with an arrow, pointed out towards the horizon. A cloak and quiver draped at their back.

This time, it was Azem’s attention that was peaked, and her bright eyes came to rest upon what she had created in earnest.

“The Arrow, honoured judges.”

Emet-Selch, too, brought himself in closer for a look, as the other two whispered to one another briefly.

“ _Thoughts_?”

Azem reached a hand to caress the tip of the arrowhead.

“I can practically feel the edges of this one, more angular than in nature but piercing like any good star should be. Eye catching. I can imagine it sending off a shaft that could cross the sky in the blink of an eye!”

Ariadne smiled and tapped the crystal lightly. The arrow fired off, flashing outward through her and into the crowd, harmlessly passing through several individuals abdomens before returning to the quiver with a soft thud. The figure dutifully reached for another arrow, and returned to its prior stance, arrow prepared.

Several claps, and a small tinge of jealousy from her two peers as they watched from beside their own works.

“How delightfully animated!” Azem cupped the crystal in both hands and looked deeply into its swirling interior before returning her gaze to the quiver.

“I favour this piece.”

Venat and the others nodded. A round of bowing from the judges to the creators, and from them to their new peers in turn. The simple affair at an end, the room turned livelier.

A round of applause. Gasps and laughter at the arrow as it was made to pass again through the audience upon request. A few individuals, unable to contain their excitement, approached the three finalist concepts to get a closer look.

Venat reached their aether out to settle the crowd after a minute, allowing the finalists a chance to approach their Convocation members and stand with them in acceptance.

“Well done finalists! We are grateful for the time you have spent with us within the Anamnesis community, and wish each of you only the utmost of success in your future endeavours, and in service to the Star. Within the week, these concepts will face final approval by the Words of Nabriales for use in the coming Astrographical surveys next year as well as for the aforementioned functions. Once approved, they will find their way gradually into the hands of all upon the Star for general use.”

Another, softer round of applause. The three finalists beamed, aether mingling between them in happiness and pride. Nothing like she’d ever felt before, or since. She had turned her head up to Azem, who gazed down at her from behind, a bit taller, smiling.

“Well done.” A whisper of gratitude as much of congratulation.

She turned again to face the crowd and drink in the moment.

***

After a while, the crowd dispersed from address and speech and regard for the presented works, to return to their disparate labours. The finalists were left to accord privately with their given Convocation members, each of whom stood separate for a time in animated discussion with their charges. Formality it had been, but some small amount of confirmation yet remained as the three of them were given a fuller understanding of their coming responsibilities and the needs of their council member.

The three of them, Kallisto, Ariadne and Euripides, had become fast friends in the relatively short but sweet time they had spent together collaborating and competing in the creative hothouse that was the Anyder. Though there was now a small amount of sadness between them as they gradually came to bid farewell to one another before leaving with their new charges, they knew as well that they would see each other again soon, working as they would be within the relatively close proximity of the Convocation itself.

Attending meetings, taking notes, assisting with research and concept design. Potential candidates for future seats themselves, though not for many, many years. And the chance to live and work in Amaurot, within her beating heart?

Ariadne could hardly contain herself, even as she maintained calm composure in the presence of all her peers and friends, old and new. At least until she was alone with just her three companions for a moment, as the Convocation members talked to one side among each other about some important matter. Venat and the others had by now departed.

“And here I was thinking you’d never get the trajectory on that shaft right! I remember when it shot squiggly lines or flew into the figure’s face over and over when you were ironing the kinks out a month ago. I almost feel like you should have kept it so, for comedy!” Euripides, a childhood friend. They’d known each other a long time, and he always had an energy about him that coaxed her to motion, to do better and try harder.

She always appreciated it, even as she made sure to return the favour.

“Not unlike how your stream of stars was more alike to a waterfall that kept building without end until the crystal’s aether sputtered out! You had such a time of it trying to execute a limit on it without removing its flow. I’m glad you figured it out, in the end…” She smiled at him, and he returned the favour.

They knew they’d see much more of each other soon. It was no secret their new overseers were not just Convocation members but married. They spent much time together when Azem was in the city proper. Ariadne would be joining Azem on her many trips to the outside world, but whenever she was home, she would be spending the most time with Emet-Selch. By such proximity, the Angel’s new assistant would never be far behind in turn.

“I wonder if we could find the time between our new roles to meet and combine these into something artistic.” Kallisto, the third of their number. A woman from a city some distance away, come to Anamnesis to further her education and career as a creator. The Words of Lahabrea had always been her goal, and now she had almost surpassed it, coming now to receive direct tutelage from the venerable Speaker himself.

Of all those present, she seemed the most likely to succeed him in their long lifetimes, given his age and his need to determine who might be worthwhile to bring before his peers soon to replace him.

Ariadne and her friend had not known her for as long, only meeting her about a month into the competition, last year, but she too had become fast friends with them both, almost working harder then either of them at making something that would strike his attention. To improve herself, and prove herself worthy of all the capital city of the Star had to offer. To make her family, her home city, proud.

“I think we should, certainly. Maybe create a little story out of it. The rider in the night, seeking out a river for his horse and himself to drink from, there to chance a meeting with the woman, a hunter fair, seeking elusive quarry.”

“A wonderful idea Ariadne! Are you certain you didn’t work under Azem when she was a librarian?”

She’d loved written words all her life. Many among the peoples of the Star had, in recent years, eschewed such things for more active, visual arts such as concepts and theatrics on a stage. Or the use of music on the radio, carried as it was to every home and soul. But she’d always desired to find solace in the words of the Star’s ancestors, and had visited the Library in her youth many times.

Cocytus as much a second home to her by this point as it had surely been for its old administrator. Her new boss.

“I’d have certainly liked to. I’ll take working for her now though, to be sure. She’s an endless delight, and funnier than you might expect!”

They spent a few more minutes reminiscing and laughing, smiles and hugs of farewell. Assurances they would meet again soon. A Convocation themselves, in miniature, bright and creative souls so evocative of their people, both near and far.

“The time has come for us to return young ones.” Lahabrea walked up with Emet and Azem in tow.

“We are prepared, honoured ones.” Each of them bowed slightly, speaking in polite unison, their levity ceasing as the masks came back up again.

“Be at ease my friends. You’ve earned this, and our trust, as surely as you will continue to do so. No need for such formality now.” He removed his mask, to the shock of each of them, allowing himself a moment to take in their collective forms and aether with unguarded eyes and a wide smile before returning the red mark of his office to his face.

“We who guide the Star are devoted and conscious of the needs of duty, of the need to present unity and decorum in all we do. To present an outward face that offers peace and security to our citizens near and far, and surety that the future is secure.”

He reached out to place a hand on Euripides shoulder gently.

“But we, too, are people, just as you are, and we once were as you are now. We too must be able to let our masks and hair down from time to time… some of us more than others, as you’ll come to see. The Convocation of Fourteen is something of an eclectic group, if ever there was one, and you three will be privileged enough to see a fuller accounting of its nature, working as you will in the midst of our members and their lives. Immersed in the fullness of government and creative fruition both.”

He retracted, and began to walk ahead, as the rest fell into slow accord, walking with him from behind.

“The energy between you now… consider it a preamble of what you will most likely come to experience with us in turn. We are all of us stewards in service to the Star. But first and foremost, we are also friends. And I look forward to working with you three, and coming to know you.”

Soft smiles from the three creators. Even among the peoples of this age, these three represented the best and brightest. Revered figures who took on the hardest tasks and questions so that others could live and work in peace, advancing themselves. That they would deign to take them in not as servants but as friends was almost too good to be true. But it had always been so.

The six figures began to exit the front doors of Anamnesis, others milling about entering and leaving pausing to offer kind words of address or silent nods. She drank it all in, starting to realize the degree to which her life truly was about to change.

“Worry not, my young friend. Once we return to my office in the Capitol I can begin to help with that understanding.”

She looked back behind her as they walked, up to the Traveler. A bit wide eyed; could Convocation members read minds too? They possessed many fantastical powers of observation, given their roles, or so she had always been told.

“I’ve… met you a few times before, my lady. But I wouldn’t presume to-“

“No presumption at all, Ariadne. And you may call me Persephone. We’ll be working together now, after all. Like the Speaker said; no need for such formality among friends.”

“I… thank you. Persephone.” She smiled weakly, still a bit overwhelmed by all of this.

“It’ll get easier with time. I know it’s a lot to take in right now. I promise, once you’re in the city again and able to breathe, we’ll get you comfortable and centered and then get to work.”

Beautiful purple eyes peeking out from her red mask crested with downcast blades, and oval white lines not unlike those of Emet-Selch’s own imposing visage. Her aether reaching out in comfort to offer reassurances.

She’d always looked at city leadership, and the Convocation especially, as distant and otherworldly. This was decidedly not at all what she had expected, even after having spent all this time working hard to now serve under them.

Her smile improved somewhat, and she gradually began to relax. A hand on her shoulder.

And then another.

“ _And how do you fare… Ariadne, was it? A pleasure to make your acquaintance_.”

The Angel of Truth, walking alongside her now, and with Euripides in tow, himself now lost in thought over what they must have spoken about between themselves.

“I am well, Angel. Thank you. Your… wife has just been trying to calm my nerves, is all. This is a lot to take in, as she says.”

“ _Of course. I still get nervous myself, hard as it might be to believe, when we need to address the city’s people on occasion for matters of great importance. And to in those moments acknowledge the weight of our roles and responsibilities. It is then a great source of relief that I should be granted this day the assistance of you and your friends, as I am sure Lahabrea and Azem can also attest_.”

“Indeed. I am sure the three of them will be most efficacious peers in our many projects.” The Speaker, still ahead but now flanked by Kallisto, turned back a moment to speak, before resuming a forward face and his conversation with his new assistant.

Euripides, for his part, smiled up at his new charge, before returning his hand to his chin again.

“ _And I am grateful especially you are here to offer my dear Azem a helping hand and company on the road. Long as she spends away from us, she’s been in some need of an extra pair of eyes and a fresh opinion on certain matters abroad_.”

“I will do my very best to be a help to her.”

“Sharp eyes like yours will be a great boon, I am sure.” Azem spoke, looking at the sun in the distance, starting to dip towards the horizon. The hour was growing late…

***

And all too soon, this dream, this… whatever this was, came to an end. Cut off seemingly at the middle, interrupted by some knocking sound at her door.

She bolted upright, eyes wide, to find the infirmary room door open, and a pair of conjurers and Sumi at the bedside, having just arrived to check in on her.

“Luciane. I apologize if I’ve disturbed you… you have some visitors.”

E-Sumi-Yan motioned to his peers.

“Please show the Scion and the Guildmaster’s friends in.” A nod from both as they left the room in short order.

They still called her Guildmaster out of respect. A respect that seemed hollow, given that you no longer possessed any titles in truth. And felt cast aside.

Curious…

“While we have a moment… I wanted to apologize to you.”

“Save your breath, Sumi. I’ve heard enough apologies the last few days to last a lifetime.”

She was trying to focus and clear her eyes of sleep and the lingering memories of this strange dream, even as she sought to address the present moment. Sitting upright now on the edge of the bed, looking at her old Padjali friend.

“Even so, I… I feel a great sadness at this course of events. I must apologize, again, to you. For my being unable to help more. I wish I-”

“Sumi, it’s okay. Really. You don’t need to say any more. I understand.”

You didn’t understand, really. There’s a list so long it could choke a morbol of things you didn’t understand of late. But you’d try to offer him some small kindness while you could, knowing not when you’d see him again, assuming you were now destined for… somewhere else.

Anywhere else started to feel preferable.

“Senna offers apologies as well, mainly for her inability to attend your departure… A pressing matter has come up that she must needs attend and so she sends me in her stead. She promises to write, and to see you herself when next you visit the city or when circumstances allow.”

She’d felt guilty about their last interaction. A mutual feeling, certainly, after that outburst in the Lotus, disturbing the peace of the elementals with anger and accusations in desperation not to lose this, the only life she’d ever had.

That you’d ever known.

Visions to the contrary notwithstanding.

“I understand. Tell her… we’ll meet again soon. I’m sure.” A weak smile.

He nodded as the conjurers returned briefly to deposit in your room Leih, Silvairre and one of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. One Alisaie Leveilleur. Someone whom you had only a dim awareness of in relation to the Warrior of Light’s exploits.

“Thank you for the timely arrival, Mistress Leveilleur. May I present to you Luciane Corne, my friend of seventeen summers and, until recently, Gridania’s Guildmaster of the Archer’s Guild.” Sumi bowed to the Scion in appreciation for her timely arrival.

“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Corne.” A slight bow in turn from the young elezen towards Luciane. She wore a Sharlayan’s attire, with Eorzean embellishments. Red colours. A rapier at her side, worn from frequent use.

“A pleasure to meet you as well. I’ve had the pleasure already, some years passed now, of your Warrior’s company as a former pupil of mine. And I’ve kept abreast of the Scion’s many feats of daring do over the years. I suppose if there is to be any silver lining in any of this… whatever is going on with me of late, it would perhaps be the opportunity to see her again, and meet all of you in turn.”

“Exactly why I’ve come, or close to it. I’ve only just returned myself from a bit of a long journey, and was made aware via our contacts here in Gridania that you’d been stricken with a strange malady. The Scions sent me here to investigate. Sumi told me that, to him and everyone else here, it sounds a lot like you have the Echo.”

“And a recent phenomenon, I can assure you. A fortnight, hence, I was as I ever was prior, simply myself. Some time after that, these visions began. They… do not always accord to this unclear understanding I am coming to have via Sumi of what an ‘Echo’ should be, hence did they bid you to attend me.”

“And a wise course, though I cannot say I myself could offer much in the way of answers at present, being bereft of the Gift myself. It would be better for Sarah or Krile or someone else among our number with it to offer you such counsel.”

She smiled.

“Are you at all recovered enough for the road, Miss Corne? The Scions make their home in Revenant’s Toll, not a long journey from here. Most of us are in attendance though… Sarah herself has been away of late, engaged in some research. Even without her around for the nonce though, we can provide you a comfortable environment while we figure out what has come over you and if, in fact, this is the Echo and Hydaelyn calling you.”

“And if it is?” She rose an eyebrow, taking this information in.

“Then you may find yourself welcomed into our number, should you wish it. Few as we are and frankly exhausted from recent exertions, we are always happy to take on new members willing to fight for Eorzea’s future, and most especially those who possess the Gift. We’ve become something of a home for such rare individuals.”

She paused for a moment. She hadn’t expected this possibility, though given what Sumi had told her, it made sense they’d be interested in collecting as many such individuals as they could to their side given the supposed powers of the Echo. Even without an according Blessing, assuming she lacked one.

“I guess then… that I am. Anything is better than more days in this room. I’ve a need to stretch my legs again, and let my muscles remember how to move.”

“I am glad for it. We can discuss more of things on the road and when we arrive at the Rising Stones. I can also assure the good Padjal that we possess an infirmary and healers as well, should we need to provide her any further care as she recovers her strength.” She turned to Sumi, who nodded.

“Gridania is as ever grateful for your timely aid, Scions, even as we mourn the loss of a cherished member of our community.”

“You act as though I was dying, Sumi!” A short chuckle, a little less then funny as the words settled.

“Far from it, my friend. I am just… sad to see you go. Though admittedly also a little happy for you and excited. You finally get your wish.”

“And what might that be?”

“To see the world. I remember your father’s words to me in private, those many years ago.”

“Aye, he speaks true.” Silvairre chimed in.

“He spoke with my father as well, of his desire to let you see the world one day, after he was sure you’d have a world, a city, left to return to. A home and family like he had enjoyed. He worried after you, as I’m sure you know all too well, but he still wanted to let you live your own life. It would seem he’s getting his wish too, now, though a bit unlike how he may have envisioned it.”

Leih spoke next.

“You’ve been a great friend and mentor to us, and so many others over the years. But you’ve always wanted to learn more and see more then the walls of the Guild could allow. It seems to me like Hydaelyn may have been thinking the same, and this is her way of letting you find the freedom you’ve wanted for so long.”

Assumptions, but with a hint of truth. She truly had not desired to leave the Guild, her friends, her life behind. Her city and its people. But… she was still possessed of that old fire, to set one foot in front of the other with a bow at her back and freedom to roam. Maybe this would actually provide that opportunity. Scions travelled widely, it seemed. If she joined them, maybe she could have a new Guild, so to speak, and also that freedom she craved.

Leih was hugging her suddenly as she thought, jolting her back into the moment.

“I’m going to miss you Lucie, truly! Especially with this nagging Wildwood already eyeballing your job, I’ve got to get my piece in while I can, before he turns my life into a never-ending torment!”

Silvairre rolled his eyes.

“Hardly; you just need to work on your stance more. You’re a fine compatriot Leih. I’d be honoured to continue working with you even as the Guildmaster, if I’m so lucky to follow in Luciane’s footsteps.”

He smiled at her in turn, gesturing about.

“You’ve left quite a legacy, and it’ll be big boots indeed to fill. But Lewin’s giving me a fair shake. I’ll try to do you proud… Guildmaster.”

She couldn’t help but softly smile too. Sad as this goodbye was, it was slowly becoming easier to accept. She knew her friends would do her proud.

“Very well. Very well! You tiresome lot… heckling me to accept fate. I’ll go with the Scion and figure this out. And I’ll be sure to come and help you torment Leih a bit too, from time to time.”

A few laughs and a groan from the miqo’te as she sighed and gave Luciane a final hug before waving at her, the both of them departing in conversation. They’d left behind a few packs full of her final possessions, next to a brand new bow fresh from Guildmaster Beatin’s own hands and her prior, older one.

Alisaie spoke as they left, softly smiling herself as if thinking back on something.

“I hope we can provide you a warm environment too, in our own way. I know the feeling, of losing one’s home and loved ones, if a bit differently from this situation. I hope with time, if things go the way they seem to be, that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn can provide you a new home in its way in which to grow in this Gift, and in your already considerable skills with a bow.”

A nod, and she rose from her bed.

“Give me a bell to collect myself and my things, and I’ll meet you by the Blue Badger Gate. We can set out and figure this out. My gracious thanks, Alisaie.”

“I look forward to getting to know you, Luciane.” Another brief bow, and she departed.

Sumi was the last to leave close behind, having placed a poultice and another set of sedatives for the road on her desk while the others spoke.

“I feel a little more at ease, with your passage from our forest home, knowing you will be in such good company and secure in knowing we will carry on. I’ll ensure you are not soon forgotten, old friend.”

“Thank you Sumi… I’m sorry about the mess, and the last few days. It’s all just been a lot.”

“I know. Take as much time as you need, and we’ll see you off when you are ready. Myself and the Guild both.”

Smiles and nods and knowing glances exchanged. He was still a good friend, even in this difficult moment. He left the room, closing the door again as he went.

She looked about a room now filled slightly more with warmth and the lingering aether of their passage. She could almost see it, so alike to… that vision, from earlier. Whatever… whoever those… people had been.

“I’d best get that down too, in the journal, while it’s still in my mind.” She motioned to the desk, opening the now creased edges of the leather book and placing quill to ink.

‘ ** _Twenty Third Sun of the Fifth Astral Moon, 1583_**.’

‘ _I cannot begin to explain what I have seen and felt this night, but I will try_.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As is the case with my formal series shipping Emet-Selch with my Warrior of Light, I italicize Emet's speech here out of respect and admiration for him and to add definition to his words when he speaks in a scene. Just for clarification.
> 
> I clarify this on all works that are not my series, for anyone who finds these pieces outside that context.


	3. Twenty Fourth Sun of the Fifth Astral Moon, 1583.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halfway through. Tackling difficult subject matter now, particularly in terms of power dynamics and changing fortunes. And a bit of the nature of what is going on between these two now, as they come to an awareness of her situation and their shared circumstances.
> 
> This chronologically occurs as well some time before Sarah is reunited with Emet-Selch, as discussed in my series' beginning work. So Sarah is admittedly a bit too distracted to be offering much consolation to Luciane at this juncture. Still, she'll have a lot to think about on top of everything else, and that might be part of why she comes to forget the stone for a little while, even when coming to make use of it here to assist them both in attempting some greater understanding of their newfound bond.

**_Twenty Fourth Sun of the Fifth Astral Moon, 1583._ **

_‘I have arrived in Revenant’s Toll. Tales from former pupils do not do it justice, nor that of the nature of Mor Dhona itself. I have never seen so many and such varied crystal formations in my life.’_

_‘In truth, I find the settlement itself less interesting, as a frontier keep sparse in comforts, or for its curious markets stuffed full of Ironworks originals and gaudy trinkets, then for its people, largely transient in nature as befits a place built by and for adventurers. Coming to it now, I feel ever so mildly out of place, even with my desire to experience the selfsame opportunities these people hold in highest regard. It might just be my lingering ennui over loss of my strength and life’s work.’_

_‘The dramatic shift has yet to set in. That my life well and truly has taken a very different turn. Perhaps once I can make myself useful once more, aught else will be set aright.’_

_‘The Scions of the Seventh Dawn. A group I have seen many times visiting in Gridania, but never directly interacted with, Sarah having joined them at the end of her time with me, many years ago now. They often came to call on the Elder Seedseer, or to charter the services of various merchants for new arms and armors. My first hope now is to try and learn more of them, assuming that fate is indeed pointing me in their direction.’_

_‘Sarah herself, if she ever visited the city, seldom found her way to my neck of the woods, being to my understanding an increasingly, perpetually busy woman. One or two rare occasions, I recall, where friendly words were passed between us as she made her way to the Bowlord for some reason or another.’_

_‘My understanding was that she had helped a member of the Adders and some Quiverman found a whole unit of bards. I had been most taken with the idea of joining, but duty had kept me firmly in my own lane.’_

_‘Mayhap, when there is a moment, I can find the time to indulge in that desire too.’_

_‘My mind seems drawn to her as a reference, now, as I sit within Dawn’s Respite, the infirmary of the Rising Stones, the Scions’ headquarters here in the Toll. A place I am given to understand was, until recently, quite full, attending as it was to some very curious maladies of a different kind besetting several of the most prominent members of this strange order.’_

_‘I have heard in my brief time here no end of praise or good words, for them. They are a regular fixture of this veritable treasure trove of diverse characters. Saviors of cities, realms, even apparently worlds, if the tales are to be believed of their most recent adventure. I plan to ask Urianger, one of their number now attending to me here, about the specifics if I can.’_

_‘To learn of them as people first would be preferable; I know all too well the problems that can arise when one is placed on a pedestal and made to play a part not of their own making. To follow someone else’s supposition of the self…’_

_‘When ever did I get so… naturally inclined towards this, I wonder? I’ve nary lifted a quill before this whole thing started, and yet now I find myself writing here nearly daily, and with the grace of a scholar used to the feel of vellum. So passing… unusual.’_

_‘Sarah is apparently a writer herself, in her spare time. Someone known for black magical research. I should ask her perhaps about this too. I have so much to catch up on with her. Of all those who are members of this order, I eagerly await the chance to greet her the most, as my former pupil. And hopefully as a friend. Though I can only imagine how much she’s changed from the wide-eyed young woman who once crossed my own threshold in search for knowledge of the bow.’_

_‘I’ll make sure to ask after her too. Hopefully, once I’ve recovered more, I can even see if she has anything to teach me with her own worldly experience.’_

_‘I look forward to it.’_

***

She placed the quill down, and lounged back in her chair at the desk in the far corner of Dawn’s Respite.

Her possessions gathered to one side of the nearest bed, with lamps lit in various corners, all else grown dark. Her now two bows set evenly against the wall, propped up by leather sacks and a backpack full of parting gifts and sundries from her guildmates. Evening had set in, judging by the wall chronometer, and she was soon due for a checkup. She sat up, moved towards the bed, and sat down on its edge with a book. _On the Principles of Sixth Era Magical Schools_. A work of Sarah’s own writing, on loan from the Ossuary in Ul’dah.

Sarah was the readiest reference she had indeed, it seemed, in more ways than one.

She sought now to learn anew of this saviour she had known only comparatively briefly, so as to ensure when she next met the fabled hero of Eorzea, it would be as something approaching more familiarity, respect and equality. She mused on the words Alisaie had spoken to her on the road; that whatever the nature of her Echo, she would find welcome in the ranks of the Scions without a doubt. Valued for the Gift, but also for her extensive knowledge of archery, as a capable fighter, and as a teacher to others.

She had explained that often, the premier Scions found themselves without the time to address every pressing need in the realm, and had to give over responsibility for combatting primal summonings in Eorzea to those among the order who were capable fighters and blessed with the Echo both. The Echo was, apparently, a pre-requisite to going toe to toe with a primal, given their tempering abilities, and this fact alone made such rare individuals exceedingly valuable to the Scions.

To learn that one of her experience and standing had come to possess it was to elicit greatest interest in their number. As someone who could help fill in the gaps when Sarah and her companions, those first Scions who had helped Minfilia found the Order in the time following the Calamity, found themselves dealing with more pressing issues. What those could possibly be, she could only guess, and had refrained at the time from asking, focused mainly on trying to get acquainted with the Scion in her midst.

Alisaie had departed not long ago with a smile to attend to other business but had brought her up to speed on matters pertaining to her stay and recovery. She’d already received a hot meal, a chance to meet several other members of the order in cordial manner, and a chance to change into some fresh clothes with some privacy left over for writing. If nothing else, this whole experience was already a welcome change from the Conjurer’s Guild. It felt more comfortable and livelier, in its own way.

A few minutes passed as she idly flipped through the book. The words and concepts within were largely foreign to her, magical matters being a whole new world even with her rudimentary understanding of white magic from Sumi and the Seedseers.

The door opened suddenly, lacking in the typical knock to ensure she was decent. She looked up, and was then struck stunned by who it was who had come into the Respite.

Sarah herself, decked from head to toe in blackest robes, a tall, pointed wizard’s hat, and a large, feathered staff at her back. She had expected her to be attired as a black mage, it being her apparently most favoured form of combat, but to see her arrayed in such a manner was a little shocking given its almost sinister undertones. Unlike any robes she had ever seen.

At least not in this life, at any rate.

Sarah seemed oblivious to her presence on the bedside, moving quickly from the door to the nearby bookshelves where rested various tomes magical and mundane, panning around for something. She hadn’t thought to look and see if anyone was present. Luciane decided it would be ideal to wait and see if she noticed.

A moment passed. Sarah seemed to be muttering to herself under her breath, indistinct words.

Luciane shut the book gently, but with enough force to elicit the softest of echoing sounds.

Sarah turned.

“Oh! My apolo-” She gradually came to recognize who it was sitting there.

“Guildmaster Luciane? What are you doing here? I was told we would be expecting a guest, someone with… but… you? Really?” She ceased what she was doing and approached the bed slowly, a smile beginning to form on her face.

“Sarah Corehealer, it is so good to see you again! Still maintaining your bow form I see, even in different professions. How are you?”

“I am well! I could ask the same of you? I had not expected you, of all people, to be here in the Respite, or even in the Toll for that matter. Did something happen?”

She paused.

“Wait… are you… are you the one Alisaie mentioned she was going to Gridania to retrieve? Who has the new case of the Echo? By the Twelve, to have it be you, and now of all times?”

A hand on her shoulder.

“I am sorry.”

“Sorry? For what? I must confess, this is all new to me.”

“I can only imagine… what I mean to say is. I am sorry you’ve become mixed up in all of this. The Echo is… a very complicated thing, I’ve come to find over the years. And not always a blessing.”

“I am beginning to get that impression, yes. It was my hope, and Alisaie’s and Master Sumi’s, that I could find some answers here at the very least, among the Scions and those among you who possess the Echo, yourself included.”

“And me specifically, given our previous association. Gods, it’s been such a long time, hasn’t it?” She sat next to Luciane on the bedside.

“You’ve lost a lot; I can already tell. And something… else.”

She eyed her former Guildmaster up and down.

“Something’s changed about you, since last I met you, which was admittedly many months past when last I visited the Guild.”

“I’ve had to leave it all behind. Elder Seedseer’s orders. This Echo has… deprived me of sleep, sanity and strength in equal measure for over a fortnight. The Seedseers and Quiver both agreed it would be best for me to pass the role of Guildmaster to another, and so I have. I’ve left it all behind in short order; all I have left in these bags by my bed.” She gestured to the collection of her things by the wall.

“My friends and all the rest were saddened by the coming of this change but accepted it with less protest then me. I’ve only now started to come to terms with it, and look for silver linings, like this meeting.” She smiled.

Sarah was now fully smiling herself, still taking in this unexpected reunion. A nice distraction from her current, conflicted state of affairs.

“It is a welcome thing to find you here. Of all my former mentors, you were the first to truly elicit in me a sense of confidence and appreciation for the wisdom of others.” She took off her hat and placed it on the bedside table, adjusting her hair slightly.

“Our time was brief but left an impact on me.”

“That means a great deal, coming from the saviour of Eorzea.”

She scoffed.

“Please, Luciane… I am just Sarah. Especially with you.”

“Very well, I can appreciate that.” She nodded.

Sarah noticed the book next to her.

“Ah, been reading my work too have we?” She picked it up.

“One of the Ossuary prints. Must be on loan for Coultenet; he still struggles with a few of the basics when it comes to leylines and their application.”

“I wouldn’t know a thing about such matters myself, but I imagine there is a great deal I could learn from you nowadays.”

“How wonderfully ironic!” They laughed together.

“Truly, it is good to see you again. I suspect I’ll be too far afield for some time yet attending to personal matters to teach you anything new anytime soon, but certainly I would relish the opportunity to repay you your past kindness and mentorship.” She handed the book back to Luciane.

“Especially if, as is often the case, the Echo comes with a corresponding increase in aetherial manipulation and even a potential Blessing from Hydaelyn, you may find more use for the words and concepts in that tome, and aught else I could impart.”

“I would not say no to, at the very least, learning about new things, even if I find no talent in them. Any excuse to remain in new and pleasant company.” She looked around the room.

“Your Scions already seem much like my Guild; full of good and honest people. Some a bit difficult to understand like that Urianger fellow, but agreeable sorts and full of interesting comments. Worldly wisdom. If this is what fate has in store for me, I can think of worse outcomes then to be among such learned individuals.”

Sarah thought for a moment, as Luciane placed the book back to one side and got up to stretch.

“So… this Echo you are experiencing. You mentioned it started quite some time ago. When… exactly?”

“Around the eighth Sun, of this month.”

She narrowed her eyes a bit at this, then continued.

“Anything special about the Echo experience that you can tell me?”

“Aside from the fainting? I heard the Mother Crystal, which I’m told is not unusual; it was the first indication this even was some manner of Echo, not unlike your own. Speaking distantly and discordantly about hearing, feeling and thinking.” She shook her head slightly.

“What seems different for me, however, is what immediately followed that first experience.”

“Any details can help me to understand how I might help you. Please continue.”

“Well… I did not mention this to Sumi or Alisaie, given my shock and confusion of the last few weeks when it came to all of this. And because they don’t have the Echo. But… if I was going to ask anyone about this, you seem the most appropriate, as a friend and as someone I am given to understand is strong in this Gift.”

She exhaled and sat back down on the bed next to Sarah, who continued to listen attentively.

“When Hydaelyn finished speaking, I felt silence, and then a strange pulling sensation in my heart, like a rope tied around it and pulling it backwards into an empty, distant space. And I heard… voices…?”

“What kind of voices?”

“A man... a Hyur, I think, can’t have been very old.”

_But through it all, we never, ever forgot what was dear to us. And that’s what gave us the strength to carry on._

“Another man, speaking an alien tongue but which was yet discernable to me, echoing inside me.”

_Herein I commit the Chronicle of the Traveler. Shepherd to the stars in the dark…_

“A woman. A voice… who… sounded like you, come to think of it.”

_Why can you not remember me?_

_Why can you not see me?!?_

_Why do you depart?!_

And a third man, who sounded not unlike the first but who was confused, conflicted.

_Fated to fray and fade away…_

“I cannot make sense of any of it, truthfully.”

She froze, eyes locked on Luciane with a sudden intensity. Previous ease and masks falling away instantly.

“Sarah? What’s wrong?”

Sarah was silent for a few moments, eyes closed, then placed her hand on her heart, around a large purple, glowing crystal embedded in the chest area of her robe. From this, she moved slowly towards feeling around at something in her robe, in an inner pocket.

She exhaled sharply, and then opened her eyes.

“It would seem there is a great deal more for us to discuss, then I had expected. I… haven’t much time to explain. Tell me anything else of any visions you’ve had, every detail.”

Luciane spent the next half bell explaining her visions, specifically the one she had had the night previous to last, during her last night in the Conjurer’s Guild.

Sarah was lost in thought for a long time after, silent even to Luciane’s continuing queries. She occasionally seemed to feel around at her chest, ever so slightly.

After what seemed like ages to Luciane, she finally sighed, and reached into her robe and produced something from that inner pocket.

An orange crystal, with a white circle surrounded by another white circle on its face.

“There is something I need to confirm. Present your hand to me.”

She was being uncharacteristically direct, and firm.

“Alright… but whatever is the matter Sarah? Is something wrong with what I spoke of?”

“Please, Luciane, just take the stone in hand. I need to know.”

Luciane studied her purple eyes for a moment. They seemed more tired now, as if from lack of sleep. Relatable. Something was definitely wrong.

For lack of any other course or desire to refuse, she took the stone in hand. It was warm to the touch.

“Now relax and tell me if anything comes to you.”

She nodded, and closed her eyes.

***

She turned the radio on. Soft jazz music.

“Welcome to my home away from home, Ariadne.”

The Capitol. Downtown Amaurot, at midday. Several days after their arrival there, from Anamnesis. The office of Azem, the Traveler. A larger and statelier room then the one Persephone had known in her position at the Library; she occasionally missed the closer comfort of that former space, but had to admit that having space for banners, display cases and nigh endless arrays of books on shelves was a welcome development.

Banners themselves possessing the glyph of her role among the Convocation of Fourteen. A glyph that now playfully flashed over her face as she regarded them anew. Her new companion and secretary taking the whole space in and gliding hands over book after book on the walls.

Display cases possessed of only three things at present; holographic representations of her three concepts. The Azem rose, as it now came to be called, something her husband now used in his own work regularly. A shoebill, which even now was finding purchase in coastal regions across the Star. And a miniature Ozma, suspended in open space, ever so slightly rotating and shifting in colour and continence.

The books were mostly gifts, or works of a generic nature, or rare pieces in need of protection, detailing geography and aetheric sciences pertaining to the proper alignment of elemental forces in nature. A few works that she had written were present, though most of those sat on her desk, enclosed in bookends for decorative effect. The radio too sat there, the one thing she had retained from her previous office aside from an honourary plaque that now sat on a wall. She stared at it wistfully for a moment.

The majority of the room’s furnishings and accoutrements, and some of the more grandiose decorative items, were left over from previous Azems, and especially from the one who had most recently vacated the post with their death in old age. To her understanding from her stone’s memories and her peers words, this individual had been someone who had closely worked with the current Mitron to catalog a dizzying array of sea life that existed in the Star’s many oceans.

Hence, why her current office state seemed more akin to an aquarium then a traveler’s office. She now looked over to see the calcified, statuesque remains of some of these creatures adorning her walls. These were among the first things to catch her young ward’s attention.

“So where is that thing from?”

A large cephalopod shell, curving round and round in a curious symmetry, inwards on itself.

“A shell left over from a particularly large example of an uragnite, something discovered by my predecessor in this office. I believe it originally came from one of the southern continents, but I cannot recall which one.”

Ariadne ran tentative fingers over the shell, propped up on a plinth on the floor near the front door of the office.

“It almost looks as if it was fresh off a beach somewhere.”

“Mayhap our first journey together will take us to the southern island chains. And we can find some more.”

“Do you have any stories about your previous journeys to share? I’d love to hear about them.”

Persephone smiled and nodded.

“Indeed. But for the moment, come take a seat my friend. We have matters to discuss.” She beckoned with a slight tap of her aether on her secretary’s shoulder.

Ariadne turned from the shell and the other objects in the room and swiftly made her way to one of the guest chairs before Azem’s desk.

“So, my young secretary, have you settled into the apartments for Convocation staff well?”

“Yes, and I must say, they are a step up by far from any place I’ve ever lived in before! I have so much room to move, and no need to worry about disturbing anyone with my singing.”

“Singing?” A little slip, on Ariadne’s part. She was someone known among friends for her voice, and her penchant for singing in the shower, or when preparing meals.

“Oh, ah… nothing.”

“Nothing, is it?” She smirked a little.

“We’ll come back to that.” She adjusted some papers on her desk idly while drinking in a bit of Ariadne’s sudden blushing embarrassment.

A shift in the aether, and the removal of her mask, placing it gently on the desk. Ariadne hadn’t ever seen Persephone’s face before this point, but was taken in instantly by the fullness of her soul’s radiance and, in particular, her large purple irises. Instantly the tension drained from her.

“I am glad to hear you are happy with your accommodations. I wanted to get you acquainted with my office and the space you’ll be working in, just there.” She pointed to another, slightly smaller desk off to one side, which had not been there previously until this morning when Persephone had conjured it forth using a preset concept from the Capitol collection of furnishings.

“A comfortable chair, a sturdy desk, and anything you might need in your work with me, which can be expanded upon later to meet our needs.”

Ariadne looked at it, reluctantly stealing her gaze from continued admiration for Persephone’s eyes. She’d never had her own desk before.

“We won’t be scheduled for any trips for a month or so, and thus have plenty of time to get caught up on some paperwork, and get you used to this new environment. There’s a meeting tonight, all members in attendance. You’ll have the chance to see your friends, the other secretaries, and all the other members. I suspect you might even be given formal address, as new members of staff, provided there is time.”

She turned back to Persephone, who now had her eyes downward towards some document, reading it intently. The _entire_ Convocation and they would be acknowledging _her_?

“More likely than you’d think.”

Ariadne was starting to get ever so mildly disturbed by how often Azem seemed capable of reading her thoughts and emotions. Maybe those stories about the Convocation were true.

“Like the Speaker said the other day; we take great pains to ensure all of our new staff, whatever their position, are made to feel welcome and comfortable. The nature of the work is difficult and taxing, and so it helps to establish a comfortable and positive working environment for all to relieve stress and tension and ensure trust.”

She smirked again briefly, looking up from her paperwork.

“And yes, I do that from time to time. Not mindreading per se, such things in full requiring quite a bit more intimacy. But you can be certain that I have a perceptive sense for such thoughts, my young ward.”

“If I might be a bit frank; whatever the source of that power, I have to admit it doesn’t quite promote trust when the power dynamic is so one sided.”

Persephone frowned and returned her eyes to her ward.

“Ah. You are correct, my apologies. I am… just used to dealing with certain other individuals in such a fashion and forget myself. And I am not used to having a secretary, you being my first such assistant.”

She exhaled.

“If I have caused offense or violation, it was not my intention.”

“No, no… just… I still can’t quite get over all the things people say about all of you. About what you do to keep the Star safe. About the things you debate. About the way you seem to all possess superpowers.”

“Superpowers? I shouldn’t think we possess anything so fanciful as powers beyond anyone else, we simply tend to represent the best our people have to offer, tis all.”

She set her paperwork down.

“Perhaps we can save the formality and responsibilities for later; you clearly have questions.”

Ariadne, in truth, had many things she wanted to ask, especially now being afforded such an opportunity as to ask one of the Convocation all manner of queries. But for whatever reason, she now found herself curiously bereft of words or much thought, once again taken in by Persephone’s eyes.

“I am getting the sense you’re still quite overwhelmed by everything, or that something is troubling you.”

“One… could say that, yes.”

She hesitated.

“I… worked so hard to be here and now my mind is blanking on what to ask, what to say. On actually trying to make the most of this experience. I feel… distracted in a way I’ve never been before.”

Persephone sat silently for a moment, both of them looking at one another, and in part, past each other. Something unusual was going on, that had not been readily apparent before this point, possibly because this was their first one on one interaction, just between them.

“I’ve admired the Convocation a long time, as many people do, all over the Star. I’ve read about many of the exploits of its historical members, the countless times their efforts steered the Star and civilization from destruction. Heard stories all my life about the things each of the Fourteen could do, and their preternatural ability to pick up on details no one else could see clearly.”

She shifted a bit in her seat, fiddling with her hands under her robe sleeves.

“And now I find myself at long last among them, in the company of one of them as their peer, and it was unlike all that I expected.”

“And what did you expect of us, young one?”

“Towering indifference? I know that must seem unusual, given how people normally are, so kind and compassionate and aware of each other. But… you all take on so much for so many? You can’t afford to let your feelings for anyone get in the way of your duty… right?”

She wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Our emotions are important to who we are, what we are, what we do. True knowledge comes from the mind and the heart, not one or the other. In this, we try to embrace reason and empathy in ready equality, no matter the age or profession or place of the individuals in question. No matter the situation, no matter how difficult the circumstances. Deference is not something given, or taken away, lightly.”

She sighed a bit.

“You would not be wrong, however, in understanding that we must place a face of formality and professionalism on aught we do for the sake of the people. Any familiarity between us, in any capacity, comes with it the acknowledgement that we govern a city, and in many respects the affairs of the whole world. Of countless souls. It is not a light thing, these duties. And we take them just as seriously if not moreso then we do our own lives. Any one of us would be willing to die for the city, the people, the Star.”

She smiled briefly.

“All the more reason to value every moment we have together with each other and those we care for, even outside of work.”

Ariadne considered these words for a moment.

“Gods… anyone willing to make that sort of commitment to people they don’t even know…”

Silence for a moment.

“Anyone willing to make that kind of sacrifice for others must be pretty amazing, right?”

“Perhaps. I don’t think too much about it. Too many hours in the day.”

Nonchalantness to cover up how close to the truth it really was. Azem still recalled the stark realities of Ascension as if they had only occurred the day before.

The Convocation embraced comfort among each other because they were forged by fire, by extremes, by pushed edges and dire consequences, as much as out of a desire to preserve some sense of their selves in the midst of trying workloads as anything else. They became their roles, and their roles became them. In this, sacrifice was simply part of their souls, and perhaps always had been. But how to explain that to one so young?

“When they told me Azem was humble, and that it was unusual for an Azem to be humble, I had no idea it was like this.”

“And who told you that?”

“Emet-Selch.”

She scoffed a bit at this. Of course he would go filling the ward’s head with such notions. Must have done so on the trip back.

Humble to a fault, though? Sometimes, but she had plenty of ego too, now being stroked ever so slightly by this one’s words. She passed over that consideration now to arrive at the apparent point.

“I sense that you are quite taken with me.”

Ariadne immediately faced the floor, face turning a shade of red beneath her white mask.

“I… Yes, it would seem so. You’ve… well, frankly, you’ve been such an inspiration for me, even go-going back to when you were at the Library… and… and when you personally came to oversee our concepts at the Anyder I nearly fainted! You were always so kind and supportive and present and attentive. I had no idea one person could care so much about our work, my work, my ideas? I…”

She stopped to catch her breath, but found herself unable to find the words to continue, a heat building up in her chest at now having confessed some small inkling of… whatever this emotion was stirring within her.

Well, this was a potentially unfortunate development.

Persephone now found herself with the awkward circumstance of having barely acquired a needed assistant only for said assistant to now apparently be… infatuated with her?

“It... no. It would not be appropriate; I must apologize... I did not realize-” Ariadne stammered.

Persephone rose her right hand, motioning for her to stop and breathe, before continuing.

“You are correct; it would not be. There is a grave power imbalance between us, as you noted a moment ago. It would not be right for me to take advantage of you like that. But you have no reason to apologize. These things do happen; I’ve had work relationships turn in these sorts of directions before. It was how I met Hades, after all.”

Emet’s true name? Ariadne returned her eyes upward tentatively.

Silence for a longer moment, a ticking chronometer on a wall sounding out the changing of the hour. Afternoon.

“I will do my best to… keep things cordial and comfortable between us, if that is yet possible. We will be together and often alone on long journeys. In some ways I imagine it would be harder for one not to form a lasting bond under such circumstances. Better that it be now so that you have the opportunity to come to terms with such feelings or, if necessary, decide instead to conclude your time here.”

Ariadne lowered her eyes again. Having achieved much, it would be a terrible thing to her to lose it all over some misplaced affection. One that had only seemed to have sprang forth in the last few days.

“Ariadne.”

“Yes, Persephone?”

“If it is a consolation, I will say that I appreciate your patience and willingness to work with me, despite this. I have known you only a relatively short time, but you have already struck me as a particularly bright young star among a sea of promising souls. Your work with the constellation concept was, to my eyes, but a culmination of that hard work and determination I’ve come to see and admire in you and which you’ve surely possessed your whole life to reach this point.”

She smiled and reached out her aether to her secretary, in reassurance.

“I can think of no finer person to join me on my journeys, when the time comes. And I look forward to coming to know you as a friend, not just a peer, if you are willing.”

A bit of candor now, from her ward.

“Better that by far then to allow this chance of a lifetime to slip away… thank you Persephone. I appreciate it. I’ll make sure to do you proud, and keep any other feelings of this nature to myself.”

“Good! And you can start doing me proud by learning about the paperwork and procedures we attend to here, via this stack of said paperwork here.” A large pile of paper, now placed before her, covered in arcane legalese. She wanted to clear the air now, for herself and for Ariadne’s sake.

“I have a lot of things that need to be double checked before we leave on that first journey, supplies and notes and the like, and letters sent to inform others of our coming to arrange for accommodations. More then you might expect; hence one reason I was in such desperate need for a secretary. Please have this pile done by the end of the day.”

Tension now giving way to a content, if somewhat exasperated comfort.

“Yes, Azem. Right away.”

She picked up the pile and made her way to the desk, there to spend the next few bells going over everything, signing a few documents, and understanding better just how difficult it was for Azem to requisition many concepts for use in field work. In this, she was more able to allow previous conflicting emotions to fall by the wayside, and focus on her task.

Persephone, for her part, did the same, only briefly talking to her after that for the rest of the day to clarify a few points or, later, to remind her of approaching dinnertime in the Capitol cafeteria. They eventually departed her office to join other staff from various offices for a shared meal, full of warmth and levity and allowing for Ariadne to turn her thoughts and emotions towards others.

All the while, Persephone had their earlier exchange in the back of her head, refusing to leave. Wondering how to approach this situation. She’d have to ask Hades about it later.

Unknown to both, a small, faint tether now found itself tentatively placed between them, though neither could see it or had consciously willed it. Something that had formed seemingly of its own volition, giving voice to an unspoken connection between the two. Whatever would come of it, in this time or any other however, remained to be seen.

***

She opened her eyes.

Sarah was by the desk, reading through her journal. Had she not just experienced all that she had with this vision, she might even be angry about this gross violation of privacy. Instead, she exhaled deeply and cupped the Azem stone, as she now recognized it, in her hand. Her other hand now to her head, massaging her temples.

She still had little sense of what any of this meant.

Without looking up from her reading, Sarah spoke.

“Welcome back, Ariadne.”

“What… just happened? Who were those people?”

“Us, I should expect. Something still new to me too, but something I am coming to understand better with time, thanks to… let’s call them a dear friend of mine.”

Us?

She closed the journal and looked over to Luciane. Fate takes strange turns indeed. One mentor now turning towards another. At this moment, she yet lacked for complete context and had experienced a somewhat fuzzier accounting of the vision then Luciane had, but had seen enough to discern that something about this specific Ancient corresponded clearly now to the Guildmaster before her.

“I saw what you saw as you did, through a shared Echo. It relented for me before it seems to have for you, hence my desire to… cross check some things. I appreciate you writing it down. Worry not, the other details shall remain between us in confidence.”

“I… normally would be quite… never mind. What in the hells is going on here Sarah? Who is Ariadne?”

Her eyes softened in sadness for a moment.

“I think it best I try to explain things from the beginning. You might want to stay seated for this…”

***

A bell later. Mouth agape. She’d been _where_? Doing _what_? And was _who_?

Then… who might you be?

This was especially shocking for Luciane because of her lifelong devotion to a chosen patron deity of particular relevance to this conversation. Azeyma, the Warden. Who she was now, apparently, staring directly at, and on this side of the grave.

“How can any of this possibly be real?”

“It is, and I could barely believe it myself at first, even having experienced all I have. Seen all I have. And now this.” She motioned to the stone, which Luciane realized she still held, and now rapidly offered back to Sarah. She retrieved it and returned it to her robe pocket.

“I’m… looking for someone mentioned in these visions. To get more awareness of all of this and what it means, what I’ve seen, who I apparently was. By extension now, it would seem I need to find that out for us both.”

A hand on Luciane’s shoulder. Not unlike it had been at the Anyder.

“What strikes me especially, however, is the nature of this vision specifically. And this apparent bond. It seems to me I am more responsible then I first expected a moment ago for your current situation.”

“This… Echo is your doing?”

“Not actively. But… the event I mentioned, on the other Crystal Tower, on that other world. You witnessed it, if only dimly, when it occurred. When I was in a very vulnerable, desperate moment… and when that occurred, it seems to have done more to me then I expected, and reached out a cry towards you. Someone I used to know…” She trailed off.

Silence for a few moments. Then, a knock at the door.

Urianger.

“Ah, pray excuse the interruption of reunion and my lateness, my ladies, I hath come to attend to Mistress Corne and her recovery, as scheduled.” He smiled.

“If thou dost require more time in which to speak in private, however, I may return at a later time?”

Sarah rose a hand.

“Ah… I have noted the later hour. It is meet that you have come now, Urianger. I should attend to other matters, having spent a great deal of time already catching up with the dear Guildmaster.”

She needed time to consider what this all meant. And she still felt the pull of her stone towards her main priority. Him.

“I’m sorry to cut this short Luciane. We’ll speak of this again as soon as I am able. For now, please allow the Scions to attend you and acclimate you. Read all you like of my work; I am sure you’ll find it especially interesting now given… our conversation. Urianger can provide more if you like.” A knowing glance towards her longtime peer.

“Of course, Sarah. Dare I ask if our new friend hath found a burgeoning passion for thy written words?”

“After a fashion.” She motioned towards the door.

“Please provide her anything and everything she requires, and if expense is needed on her behalf I will pay it. Tell me immediately if her condition changes at all or if she falls into any long comas.” A nod, Urianger now taking this information in slowly with some small measure of shock.

“I will return… as soon as I can. I promise.” A worried smile in Luciane’s direction. The Guildmaster could only nod in silence, her eyes still wide at all of this, and with yet a million questions and thoughts and emotions rushing through her entire being.

Across their bond, the faintest hint of worry, and then, reassurance. As it had been in her office, but unconscious this time. They both felt it now, and it left this parting all the more difficult for them both. Urianger, for his part, took a moment to silently regard the both of them in some confusion before Sarah wordlessly left and proceeded towards the lobby, thence to depart again for the First.

“Sarah doth possess a flair for dramatic exits, truly. And I hath known her intensity to be disarming on many an occasion…” Urianger smiled at Luciane, walking up to her with a bowl of soup and a vial of green liquid, the same Sumi had been providing her to help strengthen her aetheric balance anew, though in a smaller dosage.

“Tell me true, I prithee. Thine exchange seemed… rather more intense to mine senses then even I expected to find in this happy reunion. Is aught amiss betwixt thee?”

“Honestly? I have no idea what I can say on the matter. Everything was normal when she first wandered in here looking for something but by the end of it…” She shook her head.

“I have a lot to think about, is all. And I think so does she.”

The elezen nodded in turn, offering her the items he had come with for her. He would give them privacy and not pry overmuch.

“Mayhap then a hearty meal and some due attendance to your aether will assist in easing thy mind into this task, whatever troubles you both.”

She smiled at him and nodded, taking the offered meal and potion with gratitude.

They spent some time speaking, initially in conversation on Sarah’s book and its contents to which he was familiar, and other matters such as introductions and brief relation of their histories. In between words, she ate the soup, drank the potion, and settled her nerves gradually, letting her mind focus on a more normal conversation.

***

After he took his leave some time later, she decided it would be best to try and sleep. Another pop of the cork, and another vial of Sumi’s sedative. She drank deep, desiring now to try and dream again rather than simply sleep. Of whoever this Ariadne was. She laid down to relax and let slumber claim her. As she did, her thoughts returned invariably to the woman she had been experiencing these visions as. Of the nature of this person, whoever they were.

Whoever you had been in that former life.

And those eyes. They were so similar to Sarah’s even after so long. You could drink them in all day and never be satisfied, so deep and full of wordless desires.

Had things changed so much, from then to now? Who had she become? Who had you become?

Who were you really?

She mouthed the words of her names, old and new, as she drifted off, there to spend a long time in a park in Amaurot, alone, reading another one of Persephone’s books. Lost in similar thoughts.


	4. Twenty Second Sun of the Fifth Umbral Moon, 1583.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is passing, and Luciane is recovering well. Sarah for her part has been consumed with her research and with finding a way to understand and remember what Elidibus and Emet-Selch imparted to her, and especially what Emet meant to her. She's approaching the moment of her reunion with him, but is still troubled at present and is not exactly in the best place to be helping Luciane deal with her own situation.
> 
> Even so, in this moment, she is attempting to do what she can. The Scions have put Luciane to good use, and Sarah now follows after her.

**_Twenty Second Sun of the Fifth Umbral Moon, 1583._ **

_‘Coerthas is a bitter wind given solid form, I will speak true, may Thaliak strike me down for a liar.’_

_‘I have never experienced such frigid snows in my entire life before coming to this Twelve-cursed land inhabited by our Ishgardian cousins. I can only imagine how much more hospitable it was prior to the Calamity, or even during the Dragonsong War. Full glad am I at least that the war is over, another laurel among Sarah’s many achievements. Though the air is fresh, it is exceedingly cold, and this place’s people remain somewhat distant and cold to me in turn thus far, despite shared race and unified creed in service to the Eorzean Alliance. Old habits die hard, I suppose.’_

_‘I had little cause to come here prior to my most recent circumstances, given my duty and Ishgard’s reputation, but now find myself here anew at the Scions behest to assist with their involvement in the longstanding agreement between the Toll and the various nobles overseeing settlements in the central highlands. To keep the roads and trade routes safe, and provide guides for adventurers and travelers to this region of Eorzea; foot traffic being something that has increased now that Ishgard has opened its doors to all comers.’_

_‘The Dravanian Horde yet lingers, even bereft of their brood lord, and some dragons yet plague the region though they oftentimes account for little more than attackers of opportunity, a shadow of their former selves. This coupled with more mundane threats such as bandits and natural predators from the Spine make for consistent, if dull work. Important, but dull.’_

_‘Gods, to think of dragon hunting as dull. A younger me would have jumped at the chance to put an arrow through an aevis’ face. Having done so many times now, I can sadly relate the luster is lost after the first ten times.’_

_‘In truth though, I am glad to finally be able to spend time out in finer form with my strength returned and my bow arm reassured of itself. I had almost forgotten that nigh on unforgettable feeling of the shaft leaving my hands and the wind’s whistle as it found its mark. This task, suggested by the Scions as much for my benefit as for the necessity of its completion, has been a boon at least for my ability to practice and stretch my muscles anew. And has granted me needed time alone, to think.’_

_‘I’ve started to become accustomed to this situation I find myself in. Every day is spent now in recovery and, more recently, in trials and training. Reacquainting myself with my truest passion, and learning new forms of combat, most recently those of the gladiators and thaumaturges of Ul’dah. Sarah’s work an inspiration in both regards. For the nonce, I still hew towards my skill with the bow, but I can see already the appeal of the staff and the sword.’_

_‘I feel a burgeoning desire now, to learn and see more of the world, and find in these new pursuits a measure of what she has achieved. I have not yet joined the Scions in an official capacity, but already in my short time among them I have been inspired by them and their mission. By her and her commitment to them and to Eorzea. Gridania only a small part of a now more unified, larger whole. One that has need of me and my new gift…’_

_‘My every night spent dreaming now, no longer requiring sedative or protest. Dreams and visions relenting now for the most part during the day as they are acquiesced to in the evening, allowing for the recollection of this Echo’s true gift. Something so totally beyond me, and unexpected, but as familiar as the days I had spent, in that other life, long ago…’_

_‘It has become quite apparent to me, especially in the past few turns of the sun or so, that I am a… shard, of sorts. Of a woman who lived a very long time ago. Her name was Ariadne. And she was, among other things, the first and apparently only servant… no, that word does not suffice. She calls her secretary? I know not of that word’s full meaning, but it seems to carry a greater respect and responsibility somehow.’_

_‘Her companion and assistant. Her friend. And…’_

_‘So much remains strange to me, of all of this. And Sarah’s connection to this other woman. Persephone. And the other people they both knew, so many familiar voices and faces peeking from beneath many coloured masks, ornate and beaked and foregoing easy continence for the assurance of certainty of place. Their names coming back as surely as all the rest.’_

_‘I… she… we? We wonder at where they all have gone. Where are Euripides and Kallisto, for example? What has become of them?’_

_‘Something terrible happened, to bring that life, that world, to an end, but it yet eludes me and I dread the day, or night, when my mind, when this Echo, brings some recollection of its end forth. I suspect Sarah knows more of these things, for it was in large part her assistance and influence that allowed for this to come about at all. Her strange bond with me the reason for the Echo’s awakening, it would seem.’_

_‘To think, I would have otherwise remained ignorant and blissful in my Guild, surrounded by my friends, completely oblivious to this past, had this bond not existed between us. Assuming she never attempted to bring this truth to light, or even could in some other manner. So many troubling implications…’_

_‘Sarah has been gone a long time now. The other Scions speak of her traveling across the ‘Source’ and ‘First’, that other world they saved, alone a great deal of late. Visiting many diverse locales doing some manner of research. I can only guess as to what she is searching for. This bond, such as it is, remains largely dormant, only briefly sparking incoherent thoughts and emotions between us over great distances on rare occasions.’_

_‘I mostly take comfort from these moments that she yet lives. A link to my apparent past.’_

_‘One thought, more than any other, arises in me time and again as I muse on all of this; what is Hydaelyn’s role in all of this? What does She think of me, if anything? Has She indeed claimed me?’_

_‘I find my strength not only return but, with each arrow loosed and step taken, seemingly increase beyond what I could recall. The manipulation of aether around me seeming to be more natural and apparent then it had been before. I seem lighter of step despite my worries, and able to run faster, lift more, fire more arrows in a single bell for farther distances. I seem more awake to my surroundings, and the moods of others around me.’_

_‘Mistress Y’shtola told me, in one of our conversations in the Stones, that the Echo is almost always accompanied by a Blessing of Light, something that takes the form of crystals gifted with a sliver of the grace and power of Mother Hydaelyn. Something that allows for Her to act through chosen Warriors of Light, as She has for many ages and did so through Sarah herself and some others among the Scions companions old and new. Mistress Krile, who I recall meeting, is one of these.’_

_‘Others seem possessed of the Echo such as Arenvald, who seem to lack this Blessing but are seemingly no less in their commitment or abilities to fight primals for its absence. I was even briefly introduced to a fiery Ala Mhigan woman, Fordola. I’m told her circumstances are special in more ways than one. She too lacks Hydaelyn’s Blessing. And yet they and others fight for Eorzea all the same, and hold the line so Sarah and the other Scions may focus on the most difficult tasks.’_

_‘It remains to be seen which I am. If my Echo stands alone, a gift of memory and resistance to primal influence and naught else, or some manner of awakening that is ongoing, that might yet lead to Hydaelyn’s full Blessing. I know not what to think of such things or what to expect. Hydaelyn’s voice has been so distorted, and hard to grasp at. The visions often blot it out or overwhelm it early on. Mayhap the nature of this bond provides the conditions but do not fulfill them all. A strange thing to think upon.’_

_‘I walk now towards Whitebrim to rest and prepare for a return to the Toll. My task complete, and my new bow from Master Beatin most thoroughly put to the proof. A nice fire and a hot stew will do much to help me forget these worries for a brief moment, and clear my head.’_

_‘I hope she will return soon, so that we may finally speak. I have so much to ask her.’_

***

An exhale as the door opened to the barracks of Whitebrim Front, a rush of warm air and hearty conversation reaching her face and ears. Her skin blush from small amounts of frostbite. Her leather armor and traveling cloak falling a bit by the wayside as she adjusted to the temperature and laid down her bow and backpack, sitting in one of the nearby benches. A knight and the cook attending the fireplace approached with her allotted meal and wine. Smiles and nods exchanged; a more friendly bunch than most of the Durendaire retainers, who had known to expect her arrival. Gratitude for her services rendered.

She spent a bell or two drinking in the more welcoming company, even greeting Lord Drillemont as he passed by on his way to an errand. Each knight and porter and denizen of this fortress coming and going with a comment on the erstwhile Guildmaster Luciane and her strange circumstances. Jokes and laughter shared in earnest, and a gentle relaxation of burden. As she talked, knights and others filtered in and out from patrols, some to rest and others to begin their labours even as the evening wore on closer to night. She would spend the night here herself soon, in a bed allotted for her use in the infirmary, itself largely unused of late given the war’s conclusion and the efforts of adventurers like her.

And that was, in essence, what she was now. An adventurer. A free agent, following an offered path but still free to choose. It was in itself a refreshing change from the regimented life of the Quiver, and the Guild. A small dream fulfilled, though perhaps not as she might have imagined it would be.

How different life was now to your eyes, to see them anew and how much things had changed.

Her meal concluded and her wine largely gone, Luciane sat now in an emptier mess hall at the base of the barracks tower, with only the cook and a knight or two occupied with their tasks. A porter or two milling about to catch a bit more warmth before returning outside, where the darkness of night and a clear starry sky awaited them. She flipped through a few more books, some of Sarah’s own as well as other tomes lent to her by Urianger. Books on diverse topics of history, Sharlayan astromancy, the Twelve, magical fundamentals, and other more mundane matters. Even a cookbook, something penned by the chefs of the renowned Bismarck restaurant in Limsa.

To this last book her mouth watered slightly to consider taking a crack at cooking herself, having largely subsisted on the efforts of others or simply prepared meals of her own devising previously. She could do this and so much else now. The world was her oyster.

She did not notice as the doors behind her opened again as they had so much this evening and the stones felt the press of soft, black leather boots. A robed form coming to sit next to her at the table, on the bench.

“Hello again Luciane.”

She looked up from the book and turned. Sarah, smiling at her from beneath her wizard hat’s wide brim.

“How do you fare this evening?”

“I could ask you the same! I’ve been wanting to speak with you for moons! Where have you been?”

She shook her head.

“It is complicated, and I cannot as yet explain. Suffice to say I am about to leave again for… that other world I mentioned. And I wanted to make sure I came and checked in on you before I left. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy lately, it’s just…”

A mild tingle along the bond, stronger now for her presence. She was exhausted and hadn’t been sleeping well of late. Long nights in repositories of knowledge searching for something, along with bad dreams. She’d almost forgotten to come and check on her ward. Persephone always was someone who fixated on things…

“Its okay Sarah, really. The Scions have kept me busy and provided me with a great deal of answers and help. As you can see, I’ve more fully recovered and feel more alive than I have in my entire life, funnily enough. And I’ve kept up with my reading!” She patted the stack of books before her even as she moved to close the cookbook and add it back to her stack.

Sarah smiled and looked up at her golden eyes. They reminded her a bit of his eyes, in their own way. Like sunsets captured in miniature, golden yellow. As piercing as any arrow.

It was heartening at least that she was doing better and accepting this situation with more grace than she herself expected she would have, had she been in Luciane’s position. Even with her own difficult life, and her current difficult circumstances.

She hoped she would be able to be prepared for what might come next.

“I have a few gifts as well, to give you. As I do not know how long I will be gone, I wanted to make sure I had a chance to provide for you these tokens of my appreciation, for your patience and understanding. And in gratitude for your friendship, even if it might not be all that… apparent in its nature as of yet.”

She reached into her own bag and retrieved from within two objects; a cermet identification key of Allagan make, and a written letter sealed with the gold and blue mark of the Ul’dah Ossuary.

“The first is a key, which when you wave it in the air just so, will call forth from the sky a very… unique companion of mine. Something to provide you with faster movement over land and air.”

Luciane regarded the key in her hands now, thumbing it over softly. Its lights a cyan blue, sparking a bit at her touch.

“Her name is Twintania, an ancient dragon of Merycydia. A thrall of Allag, who I was able to liberate from a cave system beneath La Noscea some years ago while assisting Alisaie with an investigation. I was able to break her bonds to a point and return to her a semblance of sanity and free will. After long effort and by way of thanks, she agreed to willingly be my mount, and together we traveled to many diverse locales across Hydaelyn.”

Luciane looked up at Sarah.

“You… want to give her key to me now? Why?”

“In the first case, as a sort of promise, to her and to you. To provide her a new friend and master, and to provide you a new friend on the road. I know how easy it can be to become lonely and disillusioned with one’s path out there. And Twintania has been itching for a change of pace for some time and to meet new people. She does not speak much, but I think you’ll agree that when she does deign to speak you’ll find much to appreciate in her words and swift speed.”

A smile and a nod.

“This gift is as much a sentimental one as it is a practical one. And worry not. I have plenty of mounts of diverse kinds, not the least being my stalwart chocobo and my Ozma. I’ll not be encumbered by her absence, even as I’ll miss her.”

“What’s an Ozma?”

A brief smirk.

“I’ll tell you about Ozma another time.” She handed the letter to her.

“Give this to Master Cocobuki and Mistress Lalai in the Ossuary, when you get the chance to visit Ul’dah. I have instructed them to provide you access to my advanced literature on black magic and my old grimoire of spells. This gift and their training assistance I gift as a request; if my suspicions about you and our… bond are correct, you will have need of the same magical knowledge I possess in order to benefit more fully from… Her Blessing, and whatever else comes next.”

A silence now, for a moment. Luciane drank this information in, staring now as she was at both the key and the letter, lost in thought.

“Whatever your aptitude for magic or interest in it was before now, I have reason from my research to believe this bond between us is not unique, and that via its currents, more than emotion and stray thoughts may pass. In the heat of battle, for example, aether and power of more substantial varieties might come to flow between us. And I would not burn you from the inside out for lack of your ability to control our fire.”

Our fire?

A pause. She looked Sarah down from head to toe, trying to imagine now herself in a robe alike to hers.

“I… haven’t been able to give the bond itself, or its apparent origins, as much thought. But I was at least able to come across an awareness that soul bonds exist and hold many unique and potentially dangerous properties. Hence my desire to see you prepared for them. I suspect we’ll be working together someday, after all. Like we did before.”

She blinked in disbelief.

“Oh come now, you must have seen and done enough by now to understand that you’re a Scion in all but an official capacity, not that it means much. And as far as I’m concerned, you’ve been a friend to me for years even in long absence. To discover this hidden past with you seems only logical, and to pick up where we apparently left off, however that may have been.”

“I… I don’t know what to say, Sarah. I understand… where you’re coming from, but… I still don’t know what to make of it all. Of her, and of what you were. And not to mention that you already seem… so preoccupied?”

“For now, but hopefully not forever. I always need more friends and allies to keep me going through all this.”

She nodded. She could only begin to imagine what Sarah had seen and done if this revelation and others had lain at the end of long roads of fate she had walked, and would walk anew in time.

“A long time ago, it seems you and I were coworkers, and I was your mentor, as you came to be mine in your own way when I first came to Gridania, those many years ago now. And that, then as now, we came to become friends, following long roads together. I see no reason for it not to be so now, with your own change in circumstances making you free to choose. If you’ll have me?”

A longer pause now. By this point the mess hall was practically empty save for them, all others having departed save the cook who presently walked by them on the way to the storage room, offering a brief word of greeting to Sarah.

Luciane stared down at her hands. She was less surprised by these gifts, after a fashion, despite their somewhat surprising nature. Nor for Sarah’s kindness, which she had experienced first hand even as her teacher in the company of Leih and Silvairre. She’d made it something of a legendary trait, going as she had to all corners of the known world to give kindness and compassion to every soul she encountered in need, rich or poor, weak or strong.

And now she came to her, in this moment of her own changing circumstances, and was giving to her so much of her time, her energy… therein was the true surprise. That she would now turn her gifts to Luciane in turn, but in this manner. As if she was the only one worthy of her time…

The bond lit up, as she came to recall how Ariadne had felt in Azem’s office, that day long ago.

Sarah had an inkling of this, having remained largely ignorant to this point as to the bond’s initial spark, now feeling it light up anew between them. This in turn was a surprise, but for one such as her, not so much a surprise in its own right for what it was but mainly in for who it was now directed to. She formed bonds and even relationships of intimate kinds easily, and it seemed this too was a quality she had possessed in Amaurot’s day. And now another of these bonds had grown strong again, and brought these two souls together.

What they did with it was now largely up to them, given what had occurred since it had first formed, and their freedom from the relative distance that their prior lives had enforced. She wondered for a moment if Luciane felt this now anew, and how she would process the conflict within her between what she had been and what she was now. Not just in terms of the bond but also her prior life as Gridania’s pre-eminent archer. She’d lost that and so much else because of all of this, and now was processing the possibility that this, too, would be lost to her. This feeling. This person.

A conduit to her past snapped shut by virtue of reasonable rejection. What could she possibly hope to offer to the Warrior of Light? A hero without peer? She’d not apparently overcome that barrier in Ariadne’s time, nor had sought to given the nature of their work together, among other factors. Shorn now of her prior fullness and strengths, what could she offer? And what did she want? Where did her feelings end, and your feelings begin? She’d never felt so about anyone before, though in truth that had been as much a result of her position and duty and the apparent intimidating nature of her role of authority. Her ability to kill a man at a distance, should feelings be scorned.

That was hardly a concern for a god-slayer such as Sarah, who Luciane now imagined would easily be able to destroy her on a battlefield, in some imaginary conflict. This too gave her pause, to think about. And something new to consider, as she thought on Sarah’s words of a moment ago, about how power and energy could travel between them. On the flipside of danger, would this bond not in turn make her stronger too? What awaited her on this path in that respect?

The room was empty, and the silence growing deafening. Sarah never stopped looking over Luciane, trying to make sense of this herself, in her own way. No words could pass between them, as they both tried to process all of this.

After a long time, Sarah finally spoke.

“I apologize, if this has been a lot for you. I can leave and give you time to think, if you would prefer?”

“No… no. It… I am grateful for these gifts and for your words. Your concern. I’ll… I’ll head to Ul’dah right away and look into these matters as you bid.”

She finally looked up at those purple eyes, just as they had been, and were anew.

“I think I do need some time to process all of this, and think. But also… to be more prepared for this. For what you offer.”

An eyebrow raised.

“And what, pray tell, do I offer you, Luciane?”

“My past, certainly, and a great deal of growth. Change. Knowledge and power. Awareness. Things I could only dream of in the Guild, like adventure. Freedom.”

Softer eyes now as you came across the threshold of her mind.

“And… maybe a chance to begin again, and make good on whatever this is.”

Sarah smiled, somewhat conflicted but understanding a bit more with each minute that passed what had come to lie between them. She’d been the impetus for this exchange, even if it had been unintentionally reawakened by her battle with Elidibus. She’d cried out for aid, and it had been not only Emet-Selch but Luciane who had answered, though in the latter case, she was unable to offer more than an ear to listen. And that single act had overwhelmed her, deprived her of her life, and now set her on a very different path.

Sarah owed her nothing, and yet felt responsible. And she knew not how she would be able to handle yet another lover on a long road that was only getting longer and harder, especially as she presently chased after the man who had set all this in motion in turn. His guiding hand the one that had turned her towards the way needed to make Luciane’s own reawakening possible.

How many more such people, who she had loved once, would she rediscover following this to its conclusion? No less then the multitudes who had come and gone from her arms before, certainly, or those few who lingered on beside her despite the difficulty and danger of loving one such as her.

She stared at Luciane’s golden eyes and saw the same conflicts, in their own way, staring back.

“I don’t think either of us really understands what this is, in truth…”

“Of course. I guess I could be said to have answered your call. And now here we are, left with no idea how to proceed…”

Another brief pause, as Luciane wandered her eyes about the room, taking in its soft lantern lights and the echo of the warmth and aether the knights and others had left in their wake not long ago.

“The world seems different now, irrevocably so, for your passing. In the things you’ve done and the lives you’ve changed. Ishgard itself just one example of that on a grand scale. And now you come to my door, and I find my entire life placed upside down. Because you needed me.”

“It would seem so, yes, but I doubt I would have chosen it to be so if I had known of this. I would not… did not want to involve you or any others in my pain. My struggles. Especially if it cost you all you knew. Your peace.”

Luciane shrugged.

“I suppose it was harder at the time, at the start. But its been getting easier with each day, and engrossed as I am in the possibilities presented, it doesn’t seem quite so bad or so lonely as when I stared at uncertain futures and hazy visions all day in the Conjurer’s infirmary. Even without you, I think I should be happy to continue in this same kind of life that you’ve led. I can see its appeal.” She glanced over at the books next to her as she spoke.

“And I would be lying if I said I was uninterested too in… whatever this bond represents in full. I don’t know that it was entirely ideal or welcome when it came between our former selves, but it seems to have remained strong despite whatever happened to them. And… maybe it can be made good upon now, if you’ll have me in turn?”

“I have… responsibilities to consider. People in my life, many… many people. Old and new. It would not be easy or exactly exclusive.”

A pause. Luciane had expected Sarah might be taken, as it were, as she had spent the last month considering all these swirling thoughts and emotions and the nature of her life of heroism and travel. To have it confirmed however, that she belonged to many, was as much a relief as it was a worry. She’d never even been in a relationship before. Not then, that she could recall, and not now. And how would she relate to Sarah in conjunction with her many other lovers and suitors? On top of measuring up to her heroics? How would she compare to them?

“I should be surprised if you saw any worth in giving me the time of day, even so. Friendship and respect aside, I am just…” Another pause, her eyes downcast.

“I may as well be another faceless person in the mass of those you’ve seen and saved over the years.”

“I think you really do underestimate the profound impact you left on me when I was still new to all of this, Luciane. You were someone who, above all my other teachers, left an abiding imprint on my life with your words and approach to the world. In how you dealt with Gridania’s shortcomings, and the conflicts between your guildmates. I should think they have no end of struggles ahead of them to move forward without such a skillful leader at their helm.”

“They said as much, or Silvairre did in any case. I think he’s taken on my old job now, and is doing well enough. I think about them every day. But I have needed to move on, like they wanted.”

Suddenly, a hand in hers as she came to finish her sentence. She looked up at Sarah again.

“We can revisit these thoughts and emotions again soon. I… am not in the best mindset right now, to really give an honest assessment of this matter. It is sudden and I have other things to consider first. But I have never said no to following my heart. And my heart is saying to me that, at the very least, I want to be your friend and help guide you down this new path you find yourself on.”

A soft smile, eyes dipping slightly.

“Should we find anything else on that road, then we will take it a day at a time. It helps, I think, that I am no longer your superior. Though I am perhaps a more powerful person in the fighting sense, we are otherwise equals, and you in turn my superior in terms of sheer skill with a bow even after all these years. My stance being as rusty as it is from sticking to leylines like honey on a bee’s comb.”

A slight chuckle, Luciane still drinking in those eyes and the rest of this strange companion now on the long road.

“What they would think… to see us now, I wonder.”

“Probably more questions then answers. That’s always been the way of it, for me.”

Sarah got up from her bench, stretched, and walked over to Luciane, hugging her.

“I’ll try to return as soon as I can so we can figure all of this out. I… I just need to find him, first. I have a lot of catching up to do, and soul searching to do, before I can consider anything like this.”

“Find who, Sarah?”

“The man I once knew who made all of this possible.”

“Emet-Selch?” Luciane spoke his name without real awareness of who or what he was, aside from dim awareness from the one vision, that first one, where he had been present. Her former lover in turn. She sought him out. Yet another doubt now… could she measure up to him in turn?

Why were you so focused on comparing yourself to others? Embrace the hand offered you fool!

She shook her head. Sarah nodded, a little surprised that Luciane was aware of her Ascian counterpart, such as he had been.

“Yes. He’s… it’s a long story.”

“I imagined as much. Else he would be here, if he lives at all.”

“Lived…”

“Ah. My condolences.”

Now it was Sarah’s turn for downcast eyes. Her hopes and dreams still hanging close in the now once more forgotten stone of office, snug inside her innermost robe pocket.

“Whatever I can find and remember on my own, of what he showed me, I must. For myself and now for you in turn. When I am satisfied with my answers, I will return. And then we can try to piece it all back together. Perhaps alike to as we once did, with other mysteries and journeys.”

Exchanged smiles and another brief hug.

“Thanks for giving me this chance, Sarah. I don’t know what to make of this either, but I’ll do what you ask in the meantime, and we’ll see what happens, as you say.”

“I am grateful. I won’t let you down.”

“You never have, my friend.”

Luciane rose from the bench, collected her things, and walked out into the cold air with her friend. They exchanged a few small words of goodbye, and one last gift as Sarah remembered its presence in her pack, handing it to Luciane.

“A linkpearl. Something to contact me and the other Scions with, tuned to our linkshell. It will sound a chiming tone for you when I am present on the Source, to let you know when I return.” A small white sphere, with a black dot on one side. She slipped it neatly into her ear, finding she could still hear normally despite its comfortable presence.

“I’ll make sure to let Krile and the others know I make for Ul’dah, with this. My work here is finished, and I’d like to make good on that training while its fresh from the pages of your books. I’ll give the thaumaturges your best wishes.”

“Just don’t let Lalai trick you into thinking any of this is easy. Black magic is a potent force to be reckoned with. She occasionally downplays its risks, but I’ll be the first to tell you to take it all slowly, and focus on balancing your aetherial aspect carefully. It will come, if you have the will.”

Another smile and nod.

“And I think, deep down, you do. And always did. Just like in our day.”

“Just like in our day.”

They lingered a moment as the snow began to fall, the sky growing slightly cloudy under starry skies.

“I’d best be off. I have a great deal of work ahead of me. Until we speak again, Luciane.”

She couldn’t find any more words, only smiling and waving as Sarah hopped astride her chocobo and, with a squawking kweh of approval, departed out the main south gate into the darkness beyond. Luciane stood there for a time, cupping in her hands the Allagan key Sarah had given her.

“You might like to try that out soon, take it for a spin tomorrow. When the sun is high in the sky. Coerthas is breathtaking from above, as I’m sure you’ll agree.” Sarah’s voice over the linkpearl. She still had that mindreading like trick about her. Luciane smirked a bit and responded.

“And a fine good night to you too, Sarah.”

She looked up at the sky and the stars above her for a few minutes, then motioned towards the infirmary and her borrowed bed.

***

With sleep came another series of images and visions, some scattershot, others blurry or indistinct, and yet more with clarity enough to discern. Two stood out that night for Luciane as she passed into slumber inside the Whitebrim infirmary and into the shoes of Ariadne, as if traversing time to a day before, rather than ages beyond mortal reckoning.

In Amaurot, one evening long ago, her former life beheld that meeting Persephone had spoken of in her office, with all the Convocation members in attendance. She could not remember all the words they had spoken of, save for the ones of kind address to her, Euripides and Kallisto, in gratitude for their presence in aid to Lahabrea, Emet-Selch and Azem. The feeling of their presence and their power was intoxicating, even in memory, and she drank in the fullness of that moment as surely as she had the moment when Azem had taken her on in Anamnesis.

From this first vision too, she came to understand the context of her second, longer one; their first journey together. Azem and her secretary, trudging through snows deeper and colder than even those of Coerthas. The Star’s polar ice cap, a place of great scientific interest to those in Amaurot, but a place few could journey to and few could survive in for long. Azem and a few researchers from the Words of the Akadaemia were all that the more civilized lands beyond could muster to brave the white hells and blinding reflective fields of that land.

It was a dangerous place just by virtue of its nature, but Azem could not afford to shield her ward from the true scope of her own role, even in this first sojourn from Amaurot’s comforts. She would need to be tested in full for her ability to accept her role and the potential to one day become Azem herself, if the fates were kind.

So it was that both of them came to find themselves in this place, less sunny and warm than Ariadne had expected or preferred but no less important for the advancement of the city and the Star’s people. For the preservation of the world’s future.

“This place… is beautiful!”

They had come upon their purpose; a blue iridescent cavern, threaded through from end to end in pure ice aspected aether, crystalline and almost burningly cold to touch. Surfaces like mirrors distorting their heavy robed coats and face masks, with only slight steam emitting from their faces to indicate any life hiding beneath. Amidst this breathtaking scene of nature’s bounteous diversity, they had come to seek the answer to strange riddles.

This was a cavern Azem had visited before in different company, and was a place known well to the researchers of the Words of Mitron and others. A place that was singularly unique in two respects outside its graceful, elegant appearance; its aetheric balance, and its origin. When Azem had first come here, she had been as struck as Ariadne was now, but with each visit she came to regard less of the surroundings as they met her eyes and more their underlying reality. That of a churning mass of unstable ice.

A place that should not exist, if the laws of the Star were understood to remain as they had been for countless millennia. And yet, here it was, and had apparently been so for quite some time prior to an accidental discovery during a survey some years prior by Halmarut’s people, themselves focused on tasks pertaining to the few forms of plant life that dwelled in places above and below the ground here in this frigid land.

Azem was here to assist with the cataloging and mapping of the cavern and its crevices and nooks and crannies. Where the stone and earth ended and where the ice and water began. Where the tunnels ended, ideally, if she could finally plumb its deepest depths. And thus came again another reason for Ariadne’s presence; a second pair of eyes to help, and a pair of hands to assist with these tasks dedicated to her alone. Hands now shaking from the cold but also from this amazing sight.

“Be sure to watch where you step in here, very carefully. The ground is unstable in places and very slippery everywhere given the ice. Prior missions have placed ice picks and ropes for our use to make the going to the bottom easier.” She gestured Ariadne’s attention to a series of tools and ice picks tied by ropes and steel fastenings to each other and the walls, especially in places where the stone of the polar continent’s real face persisted. She made her way to the path laid out by this rope trail anon.

“Follow close.”

“Yes, Azem.” She slowly moved close to Azem’s side and the two of them made their way gingerly down the path.

***

With some bells passing, they set about their work, moving from space to space, from large chambers to small burrows in the ice and rock, taking note of every crystal formation and seam of ore and liquid water source. At one point, they even found a small pool of water warm to the touch, that did not seem to do much to melt the surrounding ice but persisted thanks to a nearby volcanic protrusion in the rock.

In the chamber formed by this pool they came eventually to return and rest for the evening; they would spend the night here underground before returning above and back to the nearby research station whence they had come. They presently munched on nutrition bars and sipped hot cocoa out of steel bottles. A collection of water and fungus samples sat alongside them in petri dishes, containing simple lifeforms such as thermuses to be taken back and studied by the Words.

Next to Azem sat a large concept crystal, slightly reminiscent of the ones Ariadne had worked with at Anamnesis, capped this time with silver. Within swirled in turn aetheric signature readings and local aether taken by Azem’s hand from potent crystal wells, to be studied most fervently by Lahabrea and those among his own Word, for their interesting properties. All of Amaurot’s scholars, whatever their specialty, had some interest in this cavern and its nature. Such was their level of interest that Azem had been given cause to come here several times, and now was back again anew.

Ariadne passed the time after their meal silently checking over her notes from the day, ensuring she hadn’t missed any details from their latest survey, as Persephone turned her attention to activating a few camping concepts, including a space heater and two small tents with sleeping bags. She motioned her hands to coax the aether from their containment crystals and wove the shapes and forms into solids.

Ariadne broke the silence as she closed her notebook and looked around the cave, still cherishing every moment she had to see one of the great mysteries of the Star up close.

“So we really have no idea how this place came to be?”

“None at all. It has all our scholars back home baffled. The Convocation has made its exploration and cataloging a priority for the next few years. I’ve been here a half dozen times already.”

A switch activated, and they both sat down next to the space heater as it warmed their vicinity and provided a reprieve from the all encompassing cold they had been getting accustomed to since leaving the research facility.

“I think the wonder is starting to wear off on me, to be honest. But I am glad you could come to enjoy it. I hope the cold hasn’t been too off-putting?”

“I mean, it has its charms certainly. Like those creatures outside… the penguins? Those were cute.”

A chuckle between them, as they stared at the orange light the heater gave off, the space now a mixture of that light, their lanterns to one side, and the soft blue glow of the ice crystals around them in the darkness.

“We have those in Mitron’s Word, along with other arctic specimens from the ocean depths, but I can attest to how endlessly… awe inspiring it is to view this land and its denizens in their natural environs.”

“And this place defies our recreation, and so one would have to come here as we have to witness it.”

“Just so.”

Ariadne nodded, looking over the glowing crystals around them.

“So, any theories as to why they are like this? How they formed this way?”

“I’m not as well suited as some of the other members of the Convocation or the scholars in the Akadaemia to answer that, even with what we know, but if I had to guess? A severe imbalance of several elements triggering an unusual chain reaction in the ice aether forming this cavern. Or perhaps some manner of phenomenon we have yet to encounter in nature before. It is exciting, either way.”

“And we’ll be among the first to see it. Amazing…”

Persephone smiled, looking over Ariadne as she continued to crane her head around the room and regard the crystals.

“I am glad you’re taking to this task with such an open mind. Sometimes this work can be dull, so at least in that sense I am glad that, despite hardships and the chill, you can appreciate just how important and fascinating this work is.”

“Of course Persephone! Better to see it and feel it then read it in a book, even if its hard on the skin.”

“Though there is something to be said for enjoying it in one’s mind’s eye via written words, preferably somewhere warm!”

Another laugh between them, and another sip of hot cocoa in turn. The bond lit up at this briefly, a warmth of its own, and they smiled at one another.

“It’s getting late, and we should retire for the evening. Have you any questions about your notes today before I slip into my tent?”

“No, I think everything appears to be in order.”

“Good. We can conclude our tasks tomorrow with a geographical study of the lower chambers, and take a look around to see if we can find the bottom of this place. Then we’ll return to the research station in short order, and prepare for the trip home.”

“Looking forward to it! Rest well Persephone.”

“And you as well, Ariadne. Don’t stay up too late! We’ll need our rest for this next leg of the journey; those lower chambers are quite harder to navigate.”

She turned out the lamp next to her and motioned into her tent, Ariadne watching as she did. An idle thought and desire now; she had wanted to join her in there, and share warmth. Azem was a warm sun in a sea of cold nothingness, having kept her moving forward despite hardship and, within the cave, confusion as to their course. The tunnels all started to blend together after a while and were disorienting, but Azem seemed to know all the ways like they had been writ on the back of her hand.

It was a simple joy, to follow her around, so close you could touch but just out of reach.

She shook her head again; mustn’t linger on such thoughts when she’s so close, and this lingering bond…

She might catch you staring.

A glance down at the space heater, still running. Orange glow like Azem’s stone. Soft and warm.

She stared at it for a while longer contrasted with the soft blue crystalline walls, before eventually retiring to her own tent and the sleeping bag. There to sleep and try to clear her head again.

***

Luciane awoke the next day, not long into the morning light, refreshed and ready for the road but mentally still stuck on that lingering emotion Ariadne had felt in the cave. She recalled something alike to it from the night before, and her time speaking with Sarah. The bond from their moment in Azem’s office stretching out before her in more context with each one of these clearer visions involving Persephone.

How you both had spoken, and interacted. The work you had done in service to the Star. The regard her peers and her husband had had for you. The way your friends had joked with you about the way you looked at her, peeking out from your mask with bare eyes when you thought she couldn’t see.

What had happened to all of that? What had become of you?

Luciane stepped from the infirmary into the waiting cold of Coerthas, itself not unlike the icy cavern’s chill. Stopping to think a moment longer, she remembered the conversation’s end, from last night. Sarah’s gifts and desire for her to learn how to control magic alike to hers, so as to ensure her safety going forward.

If this is what fate has in store now as well, we would be a fool to walk into it unprepared.

She retrieved the Allagan key from her pack and glanced at it. An irregularly shaped tomestone, alike to those in the Toll’s many markets, often used for currency, but this one had several extra protrusions and glowing cyan lights. She tapped its face, and then waved it around in the air as Sarah had showed her.

In a moment, a bright flash before her, and there in the snow of the Front’s courtyard stood a large bluish green dragon, a wyvern like creature of large, scaled wings and a narrow, gaunt face. A spinning Allagan noose around her neck.

“I greet thee, mortal. Would you perchance be the one to whom I am now entrusted by the Lady?”

“The… Lady? You mean Sarah?”

“The Lady of Light. She who severed my long slavery to Allag’s sins. I contemplate now her touch upon thy soul. She would have me serve you, as friend and conveyance both. Art thou in agreement?”

“Blunt. But yes, I am. Twintania is your name?”

“It was, I am told. I know little of myself and my past, given my long torpor and imprisonment beneath the world. I exist to serve, and yet follow an impulse towards that prerogative. But thy continence is as the Lady’s was; you would seek my counsel, such as it is. And thou shalt have it, as much as is yet mine to give.”

She’d spent a lot of time lately killing dragons. Speaking with one was a welcome change of pace, strange as this one was. She took a moment to look over where along the dragon’s body she could sit and, finding it, climbing atop the dragon’s back with her things, her bows straddling her back and cloak.

“Guide me to thy destination, child of man.”

“Uh… I’d like to go up, and take a look around first, if that’s alright. Get accustomed to this.”

“Very well.”

A sudden rush of wing and wind, and she was far above the ground now and the fortress, gradually coming to see a sight as breathtaking as Sarah had described, and equal to the ice cavern from ages past. Abalathia’s Spine in all directions, mighty Ishgard astride one of its peaks. The shining city on a hill. And a fair amount of clouds and snow and flying birds.

“Your name, child of man. I would know it.”

“Luciane Corne. Archer Guildmaster, until recently, and newfound adventurer. A pleasure to meet you Twintania. Thank you for this amazing view.”

“Tis no trouble, friend of the Lady. Whence do we depart? What lands dost thou seek?”

“Hm.. know where Ul’dah is?”

“Of course, it is Sarah’s most favoured destination in these lands. I will guide us there anon. Hold tight to my frills.”

Another sustained rush of wind as the dragon began to flap and glide along the currents of air around them, flowing through the wind and the misty morning clouds. She took a chance to gaze over all the sights around her as the dragon drove off south, towards the Shroud and from there Thanalan. All the while thinking on her visions, and on the bond, and hoping that Sarah was safe.

She also took a moment to contact the Scions with her new linkpearl and inform them of her intention, and her desire to join them, if they would have her. An offer accepted with ease and gladness. And with gratitude for her efforts. She smiled as the conversation came to an end, and she was able to regard the beginnings of her forest home in the distance.

It was time to make good on Sarah’s request.


	5. Third Sun of the Sixth Astral Moon, 1583.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Had some real life things delay the conclusion of this work, but now that I'm through the end of semester pressures and other things, I've been able to turn my attention to concluding this fic. I'm really eager to do so, enjoyable as it has been to try and give life and character to Luciane who is, otherwise, a relatively minor character. But I'd also like to work on more one shots and resume my main series with Sarah as well, and with Luciane as a character in that series going forward.
> 
> Expect the last chapter in the next few days. I've already begun drafting it.

_Third Sun of the Sixth Astral Moon, 1583._

_‘Ul’dah is more miserly in its entirety, in every single cobbled stone and market stall, than any of those souls cursed to roam the seventh hell.’_

_‘In Gridania, all wealth comes from the forest, and from the labours of man and elemental working in tandem and in harmony. Such was always what was taught to me by my father and by the Seedseers and Hearers. In Ul’dah, wealth comes instead from individual determination and grit, it seems. Fortunes waxing and waning as dictated by the shifting sands of the desert and the indifferences of the Traders gaze. I cannot help but question their greedy mindset, these Ul’dahns, but I often find myself questioning in turn the assumptions I made regarding my own home, listening to them speak of theirs.’_

_‘In Gridania, society is far from perfect. I was among the most vocal proponents in favour of greater access to the Guild and the God’s Quiver for members of not only the long oppressed among our Duskwright cousins and the Moonkeeper tribes, but also from outsiders to the Twelveswood, be they Ala Mhigan refugee or Sea Wolf ex-pirate or enterprising Plainsfolk seeking a new life under the forest canopy. Promoting racial diversity, despite the detraction of many and the often firm protestations of the Hearers who derided it as being against the elementals will, to allow all comers to stay and overtax nature’s bounty.’_

_‘I look back at that now, as I sit and write late at night here in my room within the Quicksand, Ul’dah’s largest inn, and can only but wonder how many of those sentiments were true to their will, and how much of it was simply a desire to close the door, and forget the plight of others, using the elementals as an excuse. A temptation to ignore hard realities at one’s own expense.’_

_‘Ul’dah is many things, and many of those things are unsavoury at best, but at least she has ever been honest about her mercurial nature. Both in dealing with refugees and in life generally. Not so my home, seen now through new perspectives long denied me.’_

_‘And all the while as well, I cannot help but compare these cities I now come to visit, Ishgard and Ul’dah and Limsa Lominsa and the rest, with some small amount of sadness as well. For all their interesting qualities and valuable lessons to impart, and in spite of their failings, they all seem to lack some hidden quality that previously had also been hidden from me. Something about the ease and compassion I have witnessed in Amaurot, among Ariadne’s memories. Something about the way those distant forebears of ours carried themselves, and related to one another.’_

_‘I wish I had anyone to speak to about such things with, sequestered as I have been for some time in study in the Ossuary, learning of black magic, and among the gladiators anew, days spent on the Bloodsands and nights spent in books and incantations. Barely a dull moment, or a free one for writing.’_

_‘There seems at least more honesty here in this place, and on the field of honour, than any I could hope to find in the imposed tranquility of the elementals. And in any case, none of what I experience lives up to the simplicity of the ways in which the people of Amaurot lived amongst one another, and knew each other’s hearts as if they were their own… Something now lost, on all but Sarah, who remains presently away, on that faraway world.’_

_‘I wonder if she’ll find whatever it is she is seeking. I hope so, for both our sakes.’_

_‘The hour is late, and I am tired. Time to dream again of the past. Tomorrow, I plan to try and attempt to learn how to place leylines in Lalai’s company, and recreate some of Sarah’s own magic. Something to surprise her with, when she returns. What better repayment for her gifts than to become a quick study of her own tricks?’_

***

She closed the journal, and set about preparing for rest, dimming the inn room’s lamps and setting all things in their proper places. She donned simple linens for sleep, stretched, and laid down on the feather mattress. No longer did she require potions or sleeping aids to help her along. Her health was largely back to normal, and in some ways even better than normal. She felt full of energy once again during the day, and was possessed of an eagerness to sleep in the evenings after long bells of effort improving herself.

Eagerness to dream of what she had been. And learn at the feet of Azem.

Sleep also came easier tonight, after a particularly grueling day of duels and magical studies, under the tutelage of both Mylla and Lalai, harsh but fair taskmasters for her admittedly rapid ascent from novice in both the fields of gladiatorial combat and black magic to something more closely resembling what Sarah and many other adventurers of late were capable of. She’d even had a chance to broach the subject of learning paladin abilities with Jenlyns, who assured her that Sarah would be a more competent teacher by far with time, but that he could impart to her the basics as a favour to his longtime free paladin ally. His friend.

They were all her friends, and many others in the city besides, and upon learning of the reason for Luciane’s recent change of profession and turn of effort towards helping Sarah and the Scions, she found she was surrounded by them in turn as friends and comrades. People willing to help her as Sarah had been helped by them and had helped them in turn in various ways. To pay it forward.

In interacting with others who had been Sarah’s teacher and comrade in arms through adventures of their own with her, Luciane came to understand more the depths of her words from the other night; that even for all the good times she had experienced alongside them and all the lessons she had learned among them, Luciane alone among them all had left a most distinct impression on her. Even for never actually accompanying her into the field, she had managed to impart to her not only the skills needed to wield a bow well, but also a sense of what it really meant to be compassionate. To deal even handedly with everyone where possible. To see the potential in others and draw it out. To not only be a hero, but leave behind seeds of hope.

Something she had apparently done in turn all over the world. Spread seeds of hope.

Was that what she had learned as Ariadne from Azem? From Persephone? These lessons on hope and compassion? Was she now responsible for imparting to Sarah in that time as Archer Guildmaster the memory of her own lessons? And was that now being paid forward again in a circle once more between them, through the bond?

It was a dizzying thought to think on. And yet, also a comfort. Fate was strange, sometimes.

She thought on that last cycling thread, smiling, as she gradually drifted to sleep.

***

“Ariadne!”

Unlike the previous memory of this particular period of time within the ice caverns, pain and fear were the first things to greet her upon her awareness of where she was. At the bottom of a large, dark hole in the earth, threaded through with ice and small, red veins of a strange, alien sort of aether. Their soft glowing the only things she could perceive to offer contour to an otherwise featureless void in which she now looked up to see a brighter light.

Azem, looking down at her, mask removed and concern writ large on her features and her now wide purple eyes.

She groaned, and picked herself up off the ground, rough and strewn about with rocks and tiny flecks of crystallized ice and snow.

“I… seem to have slipped, but I remain uninjured for a mercy. Cushioned by my clothes and quick thinking. My apologies…” She was a tad sore, but had managed to grasp the walls and defer the force of her fall with careful acrobatics, something that had surprised Persephone as she witnessed it happening. Some new skillset that seemed to bely her ability to be caught off guard and fall into a hole, and yet it had happened all the same in this slippery space, full of ice.

“You can apologize for not following my instructions after we fish you out of this chasm. Hold on for a moment.”

Persephone turned and departed from Ariadne’s field of vision for a few moments, before re-emerging with a concept crystal. One of the ones containing emergency tools, carried as standard for all expeditions into treacherous environments such as this. She pressed both her hands upon it and drew out the concepts within; a set of ice picks, steel nails, ropes and climbing gear, as well as some harnesses and a wind crystal aspected for a one time gust of wind tuned for forward pushing momentum which could be pushed in a desired direction.

She began to nail the steel into the sides of the chasm, tie ropes and harnesses together into a net, and lower a length of rope to her young protégé as she spoke.

“I’m going to lower some rope down, and you are going to grab onto it. When I count to ten, I’m going to throw this wind crystal down and it will smash on the ground, pushing you upward with the rope. You’ll hold tight and run up the side of the chasm with the wind, and reach for the net, following the rope. Grasp at it, and then I will hoist you up.”

“Understood! Ready when you are!” She held tight to the now lowered rope with both hands, taking brief account of anything of note before she was rescued. Best to make the most of this situation while she was still at the bottom.

A small red crystal, a shaving from the red veins that were present. She grabbed onto it. It felt warm to the touch, but otherwise harmless and seemingly no different from any other aspected crystal, perhaps some manner of fire aether welling up from a volcanic source, several of which they had already concluded existed here in this cave system.

She tucked it into her robe and gripped the rope tightly as Azem completed her countdown and the wind crystal fell downwards swiftly, releasing its energy below her and propelled her on running feet up the vertical space of the chasm back towards the top.

She eventually lost her footing, and landed with a thud in the middle of Persephone’s waiting robes, knocking them both over as the wind’s force propelled them back from the chasm, and onto the ground some small distance from it’s edge. The net of harnesses and ropes she had intended to grab proved unnecessary, as the wind was force enough to press her beyond it and into her savior’s arms.

“Ooof!”

A moment of dizziness and disorientation.

Azem is a warm sun, indeed. Even in so cold a place as this. Perhaps moreso, for all the ice. A contrast.

She could appreciate a bit better what she could only imagine Emet-Selch knew all too well.

Persephone, for her part, was mildly overwhelmed by this sudden burst of energy and warmth coming across the bond now flaring up once more between them in this moment of unintentional closeness, and while processing the flush of emotion found herself relenting for a few brief moments to Ariadne’s embrace before quickly adjusting herself, allowing Ariadne to catch herself in turn and snap out of the moment.

They both retracted, coughing a bit and returning themselves upright, straightening their heavy robe coats and gloves.

“I’m sorry for the mess, and for that…”

“No… no need to apologize my friend. These things happen. Just please, try to keep in mind the incline of the slopes in here. Particularly in this area, they seem especially hard to note, but equally as dangerous as any long length of time spent in one of Fandaniel’s lectures.”

An unexpected bit of levity, to lighten the mood. She laughed heartily at this, despite only having a passing awareness of the Protector and his Words, and only having met him briefly prior to their departure on this journey. And in thinking on him, Ariadne remembered something he had requested from their visit to this cave.

“Speaking of him, I think I found something down there that might interest him, and Lahabrea as well.”

She produced the red crystal from her robe, and handed it to Azem, who now shifted her mind towards examining it with a trained eye. After a few moments, she took it over to the glass containers used for specimen collection among their supplies, and placed it within a fresh one.

“Not like any common varieties of fire aspected crystal. Something definitely seems off about it. But to determine what, we will require the tools available in the Anyder. Certainly however, I suspect it will be a useful example of what we are increasingly coming to find here in what appears to be the cave’s terminus…” She gestured to the area just beyond the chasm; a large chamber threaded through with red crystal alike to the piece Ariadne had found below.

This spectacle of red and blue intermingling in strange patterns had been what had first drawn them at last to their goal, of sorts, and had provided Ariadne the level of enthusiasm in discovery necessary to disregard Azem’s warnings and all but run head first into the chasm via a hidden slope of ice, drawing her in. It was indeed a minor miracle she hadn’t broken her neck, or at least a bone. Ariadne took it all in again as she turned to follow Persephone’s hands raised toward the scene.

“I trust you’ll learn from this experience to take it a bit slower next time? Even the most serene looking environments often hide hidden dangers within them, if one is not careful.”

She lowered her head slightly, a small tinge of shame colouring her continued awe at the scene before them and her brief happiness in having experienced Persephone’s warmth.

“Yes, Azem. I’ll endeavour to be more mindful.”

A hand now on her shoulder from behind.

“You did well in finding this chamber, even so. And in quickly grabbing a useful sample from below. You’ve been a real asset in this venture, and I am grateful for your presence Ariadne.”

She turned. Azem’s red mask was back in its place on her face, but the smile and hint of her bright eyes shone through all the same. A swelling pride from them both across the bond to mingle with the lingering warmth of their prior embrace.

“Thank you… Persephone.”

***

They spent most of the day gathering further promising samples of the red crystal on the walls and charting the final chamber of the cave system, taking care to avoid any other large holes or crevices of which several appeared to exist here, threaded through much as the rest of the chamber was in red and blue.

After a long time, they made their way back up and out of the cave system, taking one last quick accounting of each room and hazard and interesting phenomenon as they passed, before reaching the surface in time to see the beginnings of dusk on the horizon. Ariadne took one last look at the cave’s entrance to commit it to memory, hoping they might return again and hopefully with others so she could share the awe she had experienced afresh with new pairs of eyes.

With some small effort, they made their way back towards the relatively nearby research station and its science team, who greeted them warmly and assisted them with the cataloging of their finds and preparations for the return trip to Amaurot. This place had been intended for several purposes, but of late had become largely devoted to working on the questions posed by this cave system and its unique properties. Before long, it would be expanded, or so the Convocation had decreed, so that its original purposes could continue without interrupting the important work going on within the caves.

With this last trip in mind, Persephone already planned upon their next meeting to bring that matter up again at the behest of the scientists and scholars there, who had been waiting patiently for movement on the matter. Another one of the things the Convocation intended but was characteristically slow to deliver on. She was occasionally given reason to grow impatient with the absentminded way her peers regarded the nature of important tasks such as this; hungry for answers to come to them, but unwilling to give thought to the practical consequences of their desires, and what needed to be done to fulfill their rapacious hunger for knowledge. Their curiosity.

Azem knew all too well what was required, and so was much more sympathetic to the plight of those outside the city, wherever they may be. And especially when it came to those willing to brave such climates as this for the sake of the Star’s future, and for the sake of learning.

Ariadne felt a bit of these thoughts and emotions as they spun around in Persephone’s head while they worked, and later as they sat in their rooms that night, not far from one another, through walls of steel and stone. She felt it up until Persephone fell asleep, and Ariadne was left to think on these matters alone in her bunk. Her glimpses past the idea of the Convocation and its members as she had seen them previously, coming now to understand them in the practical, real sense. As fallible people, prone to mistakes, and forgetfulness.

Eventually, she drifted off too, listening to the low humming of the life support systems of the station’s ventilation and furnaces, keeping her room warm despite the snow outside.

***

Luciane awoke the next day with a slight shivering sensation, her last thought on that memory being of the sight of the bluish cyan ice and snow outside Ariadne’s room in the station, seen through glazed crystal windows covered in a thin film of frost. It was real enough now to her perception that she forgot she was in a desert city for a moment before returning to the present.

Another, sudden shaking sensation followed, as she gradually wiped the weariness from her eyes and face and stretched at the side of the bed; a shivering borne of some distant emotion along the bond. The first echo of Sarah that she had experienced since her departure back to the ‘First’, that other world.

This feeling reminded her of that vision, which had awoken her to Hydaelyn and all the rest. But this time it felt ever so slightly clearer, and surprisingly understandable, if only just. Whispers of what she could only guess Sarah was experiencing, wherever she was. She couldn’t see anything, only feel inflections of emotion, and the faintest hints of words in her mind.

“ _You have a way with words, my lady, when it suits you…_ ”

A man’s voice. Something like what she remembered from that first vision, but speaking in a more recent tongue, not like how she had gradually come to understand the Ancient peoples had spoken. As Ariadne had spoken…

As Emet-Selch had, when she had met him that day in Anamnesis… Was this his voice? Had Sarah found him alive? How had she managed that?

“I have many things I would show you, when it suits me…”

Sarah’s voice. It would seem perhaps she had. Somehow. Luciane lacked a great deal of context, but could feel a complex run of emotions from Sarah running along this tether between them, though nothing so clear as to tell her exactly what they were or why they were. Some of them didn’t even quite feel right, like they were hers, but she had no idea as to why that would be. How that could be.

Maybe it was his doing somehow? A strange thing to think on.

As she attempted to suss out what it all meant, the emotions gradually began to fade, as did the words. After a few moments of waiting to see if anything else would come in silence, she shrugged and decided it would be best to go about her day. See what came, if anything else. It was enough to know Sarah was making progress, and perhaps had found her answers at last. She’d come tell her all about it, in any case. As soon as she was able.

***

The day passed largely uneventfully. Another round of training, and another few bells in the Ossuary, this time practicing leylines under Lalai’s sometimes baleful gaze. Luciane found it easier than ever to squeeze every onze of aether out of her in rapid succession, setting countless mammets and training dummies on fire in ways that elicited endless satisfaction. She imagined this must have been what had made Sarah take so well to this particular brand of magical talent, even with her well known penchant for learning anything and everything that came across her path.

In the Bloodsands she spent that evening, though this time as an observer to a small tournament being hosted by Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern, a promotional event of some kind for a new venture, raising funds from the bored cream of Ul’dah’s noble class via a split prize pool. She decided it would be a good place to enjoy a meal on the go and take in the energy of a roaring crowd, embracing as she did the lingering fire of that earlier time in the Ossuary. She might even pick up a new trick or two about how best to balance the weight of a sword and shield.

As the night came, she stumbled into the Quicksands somewhat inebriated, having indulged in some of the local spirits on offer and needing to be escorted to her room by the proprietor, Momodi. Once there, she collapsed unceremoniously into bed, neglecting her journal and not thinking on much of anything anymore except rest.

***

As if reflecting her intoxication, the visions that night were blurred, and shifted haphazardly between different moments in time. Scenes of their uneventful return to Amaurot from the polar regions. Scenes of paperwork and idle chatter. Scenes of meals taken among friends and colleagues. Scenes of debate among the Convocation about various matters, and about the research station. Reassurances that it would be supported properly.

Scenes about the worry elicited by the crystals that they had brought back, and about how prevalent they had been in the deep chambers of the cavern.

Scenes that, as time wore on, gradually started to take on less of the prior ease and contentment of Ariadne’s everyday life up to that point, and began to become filled with anxiety. Long nights. Fear.

Something bad was coming. Something that had seemed so innocuous at first, but which with time was gradually revealing itself in stark, harsh terms to the stewards of the Star. And began to press on everyone’s sanity, hers included.

And what had worried her the most was Azem’s reaction. Persephone working herself into such a state that more than once Ariadne found her slumped over asleep at her desk, occasionally in the company of Emet-Selch or other members of the Convocation who had come to assist her with attempting to understand what was happening. The things she and Ariadne saw and catalogued on their journeys of late. The crystals, and the… other things. The spontaneous creations. Malformed and violent.

One or two scenes stood out for her briefly, such as when she had brought tea to Pashtarot, Loghrif and Mitron as they huddled around Azem’s desk, bouncing ideas off one another. Another moment, she found herself huddled around the cafeteria tables with her fellow secretaries, trading stories of worry and anxiety. Of Euripides especially coming to see the way Emet had gradually come to neglect his other duties and fixate solely on this pressing matter to such an extent that it often felt as though the whole world, and death itself, was holding its breath to see what was about to happen. That nothing else mattered anymore.

That nothing else was normal anymore.

The dread began to grow palpable as months and even years seemed to pass in a flurry of rising tension, with Ariadne herself sometimes barely able to keep up with it all. And as she watched the situation gradually deteriorate around her with her powerless to act, her heart began to break. As much for the stories of terrible sights in the other cities and the world at large as for the sight of Azem, of Persephone, breaking herself under the strain of trying desperately to find any cause for all of this. Any solution.

And then, when a solution was finally found, rejecting it wholly and utterly as antithetical to her role. Her convictions. Her belief in what was best for the people and the Star.

And then, one day, leaving. Without so much as a word to anyone. And without her. Emet had been the last to see her. When she had asked after her, he simply looked past her blankly and shook his head, before returning to his office, there to brood for some time prior to yet another emergency session.

The last thing to pass into Luciane’s memory now was the start of it. That final crescendo. The days when fire fell from the sky, and the vilest nightmares of the Ancients rose up to devour them and their world whole. Where Ariadne had come into this moment, Luciane could not tell, only feel. And these were emotions that drove her from sleep with crying and gasping for air.

***

She spent a bell sitting in bed, weeping. She had long speculated as to what had happened to end that prior life. She had no idea it had been like this, however, having received no real indication of what had happened from talking to Sarah. Even now, having experienced this rush of memories, she had no true answer. No real sense of what had happened to any of these people she had met and known. Or to what had happened to herself.

What had killed you, in the end? What monster from your memory found the Arrow and snapped it in half? Would you even want to know? To remember?

After a while, she managed to compose herself long enough to reach out to Mylla and Lalai via linkpearl to apologize and request time for herself to rest that day. A brief leave of absence to recover from the prior night, and a hangover, she told them. Following this, another call, this time to Krile, her erstwhile contact among the Scions. She requested of her to come meet her in her inn room; a strange request she freely admitted, but she knew of no one else to try and reach out to in this moment. And she needed someone, anyone willing to listen who could perhaps understand. Who better than a Scion with the Gift?

While Sarah remained absent, it was the best she could do. Thankfully, Krile agreed without further inquiry, more interested in helping a new friend through a difficult moment, which for her part was assumed to be some bad experience with the Echo showing her something unpleasant. An experience she was not herself unfamiliar with.

***

The door opened and closed gently, Momodi in the hallway waving a brief greeting to Luciane before departing to leave Krile and the Guildmaster to talk.

“Hello, Luciane. I came as soon as I could; G’raha and the others have everything in hand at the Stones so please, take as much of my time as you need.”

She pulled a chair up from the desk and sat upon it next to the bed, noticing the generally disheveled state of the bed, and Luciane herself after many bells of weeping.

“Whatever could have come to you to cause this level of reaction?”

A sniffle and a weak smile.

“I can’t even begin to explain, just… something terrible. Something so all consumingly awful. So much loss… Sarah would understand, at least I hope but…”

A pause.

“I’ve experienced… so many visions of the past, with the Echo, but nothing quite this intense, this… filled with dread and pain. With visceral fear. I felt as though I was drowning.”

“Whatever it is, it sounds awful. The Scions who returned from the First told me a bit of what Sarah and the others discovered there in the Tempest, where they fought Emet-Selch.”

She rose her eyes at the mention of his title.

“Fought him? Why would they need to do that? I don’t understand…”

“Because he was an Ascian. A servant of Lord Zodiark, bent towards his will alongside his brothers and sisters to bring forth the Calamities. Apparently, by his own admission to them and to G’raha, this was done to rejoin the shards of the Source back together and recreate the world as it was originally, before some manner of terrible cataclysm.”

The memories of the previous night certainly seemed to fit that bill, she thought, grimacing a bit at the painful nature of those recollections still freshly seared into her mind. And she remembered the solution, to summon Zodiark to save the Star; Ariadne had been present when that meeting had occurred, when Lahabrea proposed the idea. Azem had been the one most opposed. Emet-Selch had seemed more willing to relent, and consider the idea, given how difficult the moment was in which that meeting occurred. Cities were already burning. Something needed to be done.

She didn’t know much about him, Emet-Selch, except for the fragments of Ariadne’s interactions with him and the times she had witnessed him in Azem’s company. Hades and Persephone, the happy couple. One of several such pairings that existed on the Convocation, in fact, alongside Loghrif and Mitron, and Lahabrea and Igeyorhm. When Lahabrea had called them all an eclectic group, he had not been wrong, and this pressure cooker of shared work in government had led many of them into relationships of a more intimate nature. Who else but another Convocation member could better understand and accommodate the pressures of their offices, after all?

With this impression of him in mind, Luciane now laboured to work in reverse to understand what he had become, now asking Krile a number of questions about the Ascians, and their many conflicts with the Scions and others, including the incident involved Emmerololth and the Isle of Val that had deprived Krile of her adoptive family. Her friends and colleagues and all her life’s work up to that point some summers past. Luciane in turn attempted to explain how she had come to see them.

Krile shook her head slowly.

“Whatever they were before the Sundering, the ones we call Ascians came to embody the worst of what time and tempering are capable of. They killed millions, over countless centuries, through Calamities and other terrible deeds done in Zodiark’s name.”

She looked up to Luciane with sad eyes.

“Emet-Selch, even to the end, was committed to this same path as he had been for eras, and though he attempted to reach out to Sarah it seems, and the others, seeing something in them and in her, he ultimately did still attempt to kill her and them and conclude another Rejoining. Giving up on ‘cooperation’ when it no longer suited his plans, and Zodiark’s will.”

This seemed so strange for her to hear, given she had learned very little about all this from Sarah in their relatively brief interactions of late. And her recollection of this man, though far from clear, had never suggested something alike to someone capable of such awful things as this. But, as she had come to understand as well, a great deal had changed since then.

What had he seen in Sarah? Was it anything like what she and he had possessed in Amaurot’s time? Was it at all like what Ariadne had known with Persephone, limited as it had been then? Had there been any interactions there, between him and Ariadne? He can’t have been ignorant of the bond between her and his wife, given his apparent skillsets and soul Sight.

And if he was alive now despite everything, as the previous morning’s feelings and words had revealed, would he recognize her if they met? What would he think of all of this? What would Sarah’s friends and peers think of all of this, if they felt now as Krile did about him and the Ascians? A million such questions now weighed down on her.

“It just makes so little sense to me, now. I knew almost nothing of these ‘Ascians’ prior to this, even hearing what I did of Sarah’s adventures and conflicts.”

“I should be surprised if you had; they take great pains to remain secret and hidden from ‘mortal’ eyes as they see them, and orchestrate events from behind many an intermediary and cat’s paw, coiling back into the shadows between worlds when a true threat to their plans arises. Ever scheming and capricious, that lot.”

She leapt off the chair, and walked over to Luciane’s legs, hugging them briefly.

“I’m sorry you’ve experienced what you have, but I seem to be unequal to the task of offering much in the way of succor and perspective. My Echo seems conspicuously silent on the matter of what you’ve seen. I can only offer so much, from what I’ve seen and been told by the others. And given how you seem to look at things, I doubt my words on the Ascians will offer you much more than a bitter perspective. Something gained from fighting and loss, and seeing them as they are now.”

She returned to the chair.

“Hopefully, Sarah will return soon, and you can speak with her on the matter. She always seems to know how to find the right words eventually, though when I first met her I recall she was rather more… withdrawn from speech. She’s come a long way since Idyllshire.”

A smile now from Luciane, imagining once again the way in which Sarah, when learning from her about archery, had normally responded to her words with nods and smiles and not with words. She had come a long way since then, given how much more animated she had seemed when they had spoken more recently.

“I think… I need to give some thought to what you’ve told me, even so. I didn’t know anything about them, and it contrasts so… strangely with my understanding from my memories and visions of that other time. Maybe I do need to try and talk to her. I doubt anyone else could help me understand what she’s seen. What I’ve seen.”

Krile raised her hand to her chin for a moment in thought.

“Even so… you may not need someone to talk to about this to perhaps find some recovery from the shock, and gather your thoughts. Sometimes all that is needed is some fresh air and pleasant company with someone who can talk about anything and everything or nothing at all, and listen.”

Luciane considered for a moment who she still could talk to who would be equal to giving that kind of conversation. The Scions and others she had interacted with of late, gracious and good people all as they were, remained new acquaintances, Krile included. People who still saw her largely as the Guildmaster, and were not so easily able to look past that, as Sarah had come to do.

Who did she know who was capable of easily setting aside titles and pretense? And listen?

It dawned on her in a flash of insight.

“I think I know, someone… someone I’ve been meaning to talk to, actually. Now seems as good a time as any. And it’ll afford me some fresh air too, travelling to see him. Thank you for this insight Krile.”

Her face brightened again as Luciane seemed to collect herself, rise from the bed, and began to prepare for a small journey.

“My pleasure, Luciane. I am glad you have something to occupy your mind and help you recover, whatever it may be. The Scions will be ready for your return, when you’ve made peace with what you’ve seen.”

“Hopefully, it won’t take long.” Luciane shrugged, trying to reclaim some sense of the previous day’s ease and normalcy despite that ever present dread lingering in her stomach from the visions. She placed her pack, cloak and bow to her back.

“Thank you for listening too, Krile. I appreciate it.”

“It is no trouble, for a new friend. We Scions have to stick together, whatever comes up, after all.”

Mutual smiles, as they walked together out of her inn room and into the Quicksand proper. Brief words of thanks exchanged between them and with Momodi as they went their separate ways, and Luciane exited the Gates of Nald to hop atop Twintania, and make her way towards the Shroud.

***

The South Shroud, not far from Quarrymill. The overturned stump of a great oak tree, hollowed out by time, vilekin and various plants. A small fire pit, warm against the cool breeze blowing through the trees. An old elezen, sitting on a moss covered rock. The renowned bard, Jehantel, someone she knew well and had approached several times to learn of bardic arts, who had eventually relented to teaching Sarah and, following a period of self-reflection, the troupe of bards who now served among the Adders.

Luciane had been unable to speak with him for some time or broach the subject yet again; this time, her motives for visiting him, here in the glades where he lived, were quite different.

She walked up beside him, sat down beside the fire, and relieved herself of her burdens, turning with a smile as he spoke.

“Ah, Guildmaster Luciane. I was wondering when you might come bless these old bones with your presence. I hear tell of late from the millers that you’ve been a busy woman these past few moons, and no longer a teacher of the bow.”

“You would be correct, old friend. I’ve been dealing with a lot of changes lately.”

“Does one of those include asking me for tutelage in song?”

“Not this time, I am afraid.” A raised eyebrow as the old man turned to look at her. She had ever insisted after that knowledge when she had come to see him before; possessing no apparent interest in it now was quite the surprise.

“Well now, in that case, what could possess you to come seeking me out when you have so many more adventures surely waiting for you now? Freedom to roam?”

“I’ve… well, to really explain the reason for my visit might take some time. I don’t even understand it all, truth be told.”

“Sounds like quite a tale. I’m happy to listen; a nice change of pace from the solitude.”

She listened for a few minutes to the wind in the leaves, the birds and buzzing bees, the crackle of the fire before her. A sigh.

He might not understand what we’ve seen, what we’ve experienced, but at least he can try. Maybe a nice song will come out of it, in the end. Something to stem the loss.

“You remember Sarah, I trust?”

“Your finest pupil, and mine. A bard and archer both to surpass us all.”

“Well, several moons past now…”

***

She spent several bells telling Jehantel the entire story. Of her visions, the words of Hydaelyn, the Echo, the meetings with Sarah. The time spent in training, in adjusting to a new reality. Of slaying dragons, reading books, and the dreaming. Of Ariadne, and her friends. Of the bond between her and Persephone, Azem, Emet-Selch and all the rest. And how that bond had changed her life and left her, and Sarah, now bound, in ways she still struggled to understand fully.

By the end of it, Jehantel spent several minutes in silence, watching the fire before them, the sun above beginning its slow descent towards the horizon beyond the trees. The only sounds those of the forest around them and the wind.

“A great deal has changed, it seems.”

“That’s one way of putting it, yes.” A small chuckle.

“I think you might finally be ready to learn.”

She turned her head suddenly, shocked by this being the thing to cause him to reconsider teaching her to be a bard, something she had wanted for a long time but, even now, had expected he would not be willing to educate her on. For all the same old reasons.

Why had he changed his mind now?

“I can’t say I expected you to be willing to teach me how to be a bard now of all times. I’ve come to you dozens of times, and every time, no matter how much I pleaded or flattered, you refused to teach me. Why now?”

He turned to her and smiled.

“Because you finally need these skills. You finally have a song of your own, waiting for you to find the words. And someone to help you find it; a muse. An interesting one, given everything you’ve told me, and I cannot claim to understand it all any more than you, but I know a good story when I see it. Full of life, love, tragedy, longing and twists of fate.”

He tended the fire with a stick to kick up the embers.

“And now, perhaps, something new. Something real.”

“So that was what I lacked this whole time? A song? You could have just told me!”

“Such things cannot be willed or created so easily as all that. They need to come from the heart, like anything a bard does. Something that can stir the hearts and souls of others has to be felt keenly in the one who tells the story, not invented or fabricated for drama as is done in taverns and among noble courts.”

He reached into his nearby pack and produced a mirror apple, which he began to snack on while ruminating.

“You’ve changed, these last few moons, and not entirely because of Sarah. You could have been stubborn and stuck fast to the duty you’ve known all your life. You could have chosen to go any other direction, taking what the Scions offered and then departing. Struck out on your own. Or any number of other things.”

He reached into his pack again, produced another apple, and offered it to her.

“Instead, you chose to embrace what fate had in store. Embrace this confusing story you yourself once wrote, a long time ago, and even its unhappy ending. And for her assistance, you’ve been given the chance to perhaps write a happier conclusion to this story Ariadne began for you. Something you yourself now freely choose to follow, wherever it might lead.”

She blinked a few times at him and his smiling, wizened features. They reminded her ever so slightly of her father, and the way he had smiled at her.

“You really mean that don’t you?”

“Of course. When you get to be my age, there’s no shortage of regrets. Stories left untold. Things we wish we could go back and do again. You’ve been afforded a chance of a lifetime, here, to remember and try to do better. Whatever that might be, and whatever that might look like for you. For her.”

She took the apple, looking at its deep red hue and polished sheen. It reminded her of the blood she had seen smeared on the faces and masks of the dead, in those final terrible moments she could remember, and feel. Mingling now with the fire before them.

A terrible ending, in so many ways. She still felt reticent to think upon it now. But listening to him bite into his own apple, and thinking on his words, helped her to remember where she was now, in the present. And this opportunity she’d been afforded.

That Sarah had helped her see.

Despite how difficult some of these memories were, she knew it would be best not to linger on them. Not to let them deter her, and her own chance at a new future. A new life. Something all her own, now. Whatever she wanted this story to be.

She bit down on the apple. It was sweet and juicy. She smiled again.

“I guess I'd best make the most of this song then. If you’ll show me how.”

“On one condition.”

She turned to him again, as he concluded eating his apple.

“You’ll come visit more often and tell me more about this time before, and bring Sarah along too. I’d very much like to hear about it, and about her trip to the First.”

A smile becoming a large grin, beaming at him as he smiled at her in turn.

“I’m sure she’d love to come and visit. I’ll make sure we’ll find the time. Promise.”

“Thank you, Luciane. I look forward to it.”

He pulled out his bow and harp as she continued to eat, and began to strum a tune. They spent several more bells speaking, as he taught her the basics of the skills she had long desired after, and the stirring melodies common to the Autumn War and other older battles. Music to fortify the battlefield, and keep men and women fighting and brave.

As he spoke, she looked over her bows, her old one and her new one, and thought upon them and the lives they seemed to represent for her. The life she had led at the Guild, and the life she now seemed to embrace. Something not all that different from what it seemed Ariadne had enjoyed about following Persephone out into the world, travelling all over the world together.

She hoped she would be able to do that with Sarah now. She hoped they would meet again soon.

Maybe, if she was lucky, she would get a chance to share the song that now began to form in her mind with her. And, perhaps, with him as well.

Whatever he was, whatever Sarah was, whatever she was now, this future was worth fighting for. She had more to ask Sarah about now, certainly, but she felt surer of herself now. Surer that, despite the pain and the loss that such things as these memories brought her, and despite her uncertainty at the path she now found herself walking, she was doing this for her own reasons. For Ariadne, but also for herself.

For us.


	6. Fourteenth Sun of the Sixth Astral Moon, 1583.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the conclusion. After the revelations of her memories in the chapter prior and then her chat with Jehantel, Luciane finds solace in an unlikely place; atop Solm Al. Jehantel and Pukno Poki encourage her to find her song, her own story to add to the bard's tale and powers, so that she can make the most of her new opportunities and skills and fully take advantage of Jehantel's lessons. Here, at the top of the world, she seeks to try and find that song. And dream of her fate, both in the past and the present.
> 
> I look back on this work and some of my others from the past few months of doing fan fiction writing for the first time, and how far I've seemingly come in writing in that time, when I look now at this piece. I'm sure with time I'll craft better works, but at this moment, I feel a bit like I imagine Luciane does at this conclusion as she now bridges the divide from her in game role to a place in Sarah's party and heart. That of someone blessed with a song in their heart and the ability to share it as I had always wanted to do, before I found the words. And now I've found them at last.
> 
> Thanks as always for taking this journey with me, dear reader. New Sarah main series pieces/one shots coming soon.

_Fourteenth Sun of the Sixth Astral Moon, 1583._

_‘Ascending Solm Al is a taxing endeavour, but by the gods… the view is worth the exhaustion.’_

_‘Pukno Poki, a moogle acquaintance of Jehantel’s, has directed me towards this mountain, after nearly a full moon’s turn of training under the old bard. He has taught me all that he knows, all his songs and bow borne tricks, as he did to Sarah many summers past. And now, he and Pukno have instructed me to seek a final piece of wisdom for my own song, here among the moogles living on the sacred Dravanian mountain, a place filled with stunning vistas and endless clouds, as well as the bones of the past.’_

_‘Thanks to the conclusion of the Dragonsong War and the increase of foot traffic along the roads between Ishgard and Idyllshire, a settlement built into the ruins of Sharlayan’s old colony on our Eorzean shores, the previous difficulty of the journey to this place has been lessened, albeit only just in terms of angry dragons. Plenty of danger still abounds, from poachers to Gnath to Nidhogg’s remaining brood, ever hungry, but in spite of this, my trek through Coerthas and Dravania was largely uneventful, with a few nights spent in Ishgard and then the hamlet of Tailfeather along the way, with time to read.’_

_‘Some few of man’s children have found the wherewithal to actually climb the large stony paths that travel from the forelands below in Abalathia’s Spine up to the sacred summit, where can be found the remnants of what I can only conclude from reading Lord Edmont’s now famous account was the original Ishgard, prior to the War, now a shattered series of broken buildings and windswept spires. They cast a somber pall over a war ravaged territory, high above the clouds and hidden for a thousand years… indeed, this is perhaps the perfect place to reflect on my own visions, from a certain perspective.’_

_‘I suspect, despite his inability to fully grasp what I imparted to him in turn of all of this, and even with the moogles in mind, that the old man sent me here because he felt this place would be ideal for me to consider Amaurot, and its ending. And, in turn, all that these things meant to Ariadne and her people. Their tragedy much more distant in the past it seems, but still so near to me now, fresh in my mind. And, in the case of tragedies like those I now see the aftermath of, something that only begat a nigh on endless series of further woes. Regrets, writ large upon the land.’_

_‘Sarah’s linkpearl chimed her return, whilst I was among the glades in Quarrymill, and though I longed to see her again right away, I felt it would be appropriate to wait and let her come to me again when she was able. I wanted to focus on my song and on practicing my skills. To impress her, as much as for my own benefit. And so that she could have her time with him, as I suspect he has come with her here, though I have no proof of that.’_

_‘She hasn’t contacted me yet, in any case. Probably swept up in the tangle of events since her last visit, what with Garlemald being what it is, apparently falling to pieces. And if he is viewed by others as the Scions do, as an Ascian evil to the core, she has an uphill battle ahead of her to bring him into her life in any normal capacity.’_

_‘For my part, I am afraid to meet him. Not for what he apparently is, as Krile told me, but because of what he was. Her husband. Her first true love. I already worry after what this bond between her and I means, and often these past few nights I have found myself wondering; in addition to her other relationships, his will cast a long shadow indeed. How do I measure up? Once more, I compare myself to the impossible, imaginary standards of others, and always do I find myself placed last. Without cause.’_

_‘She was reassuring, not worried, when we spoke in Whitebrim. Receptive to me, even with everything, and freed of the imbalances of her prior life, and mine. I should try to hew towards that reality and relax. Focus on what I’m here to do. He was a kind soul in Ariadne’s memory. I should expect that instead, and that he will be understanding. That I still have a chance.’_

_‘He might even be happier just to see us again. Her and I. And I would be interested to know of him in turn.’_

_‘I have a feeling she will be happy to see me, all else being equal, and happy to share her discoveries with me. Her answers.’_

_‘I once told Sarah, when she was my student, that, although people may behold the same object, or the same person, ever will they see different things, and exaggerate certain qualities of man and phenomena before their eyes to suit their opinions, their truths. There is often no right or wrong to it, for it is ultimately a question of perspective. And I told her that her eyes hold the capacity to perceive the full and unvarnished truth, and that she should embrace whatever she sees for what it is, and worry less about predicting every single bias on a battlefield or in life, but to focus on finding the good she can in every soul.’_

_‘I… still don’t know how I feel about all of this, and her. Even with all this exploration and self-reflection. But I do know what I see, when I look at her. When I look into her eyes, and see the same ones Ariadne beheld so long ago, staring back. I want to know more of what I see there, hiding beneath the hero’s easy smile. And I want to see what more she can show me. And I want to show her what I have to give, and what she has already inspired in me in turn.’_

_‘I have faith that she will see the worth in me, as I once saw it in her.’_

_‘Wherever that path may lead.’_

***

**Observe with intent.**

**Overlook not the smallest detail.**

**Discern your subject’s unique characteristics.**

**Recognize the patterns of their behaviour.**

**Yours is the vision to see the path ahead, to walk the path of lesser tragedy.**

**If you are willing.**

These are the things she taught us. In that time before, when we gazed at the stars together on distant shores, far from home. These are the things we taught her, when she gazed at our star after a long and winding road, within the bosom of our home. These are the things that defined who we were, and who we are. Our gifts to her, and her gifts to us.

A link, inextricably bound, no matter the distance or time, to journey home again. Ever hopeful.

Luciane closed her eyes in thought, listening to the distant winds waving over the cloud mallows and stones around her, whistling past as they made their course over the jagged face of the Churning Mists. Solm Al’s storied peak beneath her, seeming to hum and vibrate with an energy all its own, barely contained by the ministrations of the dragons and moogles in concert, wielding ancient magics.

She thought upon these words, which had come into her mind as she concluded her latest entry in her journal, sitting here atop the rocky roof of Moghome, propped up against a standing stone along with her pack and bows. Gazing out at the stars of night, and the soft green glow of Zenith, a place home to Hraesvelgr and the memory of Saint Shiva’s time. She had read Edmont’s book on the War and it’s conclusion, and all of Sarah’s deeds here, some summers past, when she had come here to set old wrongs aright in the company of other heroes, some as unlikely as she seemed to be now, at least to herself.

An adventurer now, but, to walk at the hero’s side, she thought, would she not then also have to become a hero? However she could? And be her equal in all things? How else could she hope to weave a song, a story, worthy of the bards? Worthy of her heart? Of Jehantel’s hopes for her?

She opened her eyes and watched the crackling lightning arcs of the Aery. A place that seemed like a lead weight encased in the otherwise serene painting of life before her, bleak and broken. A place where Nidhogg once had dwelt, plotting ever and only for revenge. Empty now, a memory, drifting, to be worn down by time, along with all else she could see. His long life’s purpose amounting to nothing, in the end, save as a hard lesson.

What was the lesson of her memories? Perhaps not to constantly compare herself to others with powers beyond her ken, such as Hydaelyn’s own, or that of this ‘Zodiark’ Krile had told her of. Her wayward opponent in a cosmic dance. In the case of the Crystal Mother, she had not spoken to Luciane for quite some time, only the faintest echoes of those same three words over and over, imploring her to hear, feel and think.

She’d done just that in her own way, over and over, these many moons and turns of the sun. She felt almost as though there was naught else left to discover, except to create something new. And maybe hope for a Blessing of Light, so as to find some meagre semblance of heroism that seemed so far out of reach at present.

As she sat against the stone, listening to the wind and beginning to drift to sleep, she wondered after what she might create. And what she might remember, in coming days. Ariadne had created much, even for one so young, and had led a long life. Luciane would probably spend her whole existence now remembering all that her former life’s story had to impart.

Aside from the Final Days, that sounded like a thing worth remembering and learning from.

***

Sadly, all worthy things must come to an end.

The serenity of Solm Al was gone almost suddenly enough that she felt the hint of vertigo as her perspective shifted from the sense of sitting against stone to falling over into stone, tripping as she ran past flames and crumbing edifices, the scent of charred flesh and the sound of roaring, screeching things everywhere around her.

The Final Days had come. Amaurot was burning. Her friends were nowhere to be found. Euripides and Kallisto and all the rest caught unawares by the sudden onset of this terrible moment. She herself had only just left the Forum, on her way back towards the Capitol and her now lonely desk in Azem’s office, bereft of its proper occupant. Not seen for months by this point.

She ran, with a vile emanation chasing her. A beast with three eyes, red skin, slavering jaws, hunched back and claws as sharp as steel. On all fours, this nightmare strode through shadows cast by the flames, and backed her into a corner. Black drool, leaving an acid on the ground, wearing down the street’s stones.

A blast of purple energy sent it reeling to one side, with Ariadne choking back a scream as she held fast to broken stonework.

A hand held out to her, familiar.

“ _Ariadne, come with me! We must away, quickly_!”

Emet-Selch, the Angel of Truth.

He had been on his way to the same place, perhaps with more expediency, having some small forewarning of the impending doom, and rushing hither and dither to find those few whom he could save to shepherd them towards the relative safety of the Capitol. Persephone would never let him live it down were he to let her secretary die so ignominiously.

“ _Come now, we must go. The Convocation sits soon, to enact our plan. You will be needed_!”

“What? Why?”

“ _In place of the one who has left us behind…_ ”

“Where did she go?”

“ _I do not know; to save those she could outside our walls, she told me. Should have returned by now. I fear the worst…_ ”

Ariadne turned her eyes downcast, as they continued to run, dodging the fires and the broken street lamps, occasionally stopping to help other poor souls along, or in tandem throw bolts of force and arcane might at the creatures now hunting in Amaurot’s streets for prey.

“What do you intend for me to do?”

“ _Whatever you are able to do. A final verse is needed, in our song, to bring forth the will of the Star_.”

“But… but I am not of your number! She is! It should be her, here, not me! What could I possibly do to be her equal in this?!”

“ _I believe you underestimate how much she saw in you, my friend, or how much alike you were to her, and in turn, to her office_.”

“Wait… did she…?”

“Sh _e spoke of things to me, yes. About the bond, between you and her_.”

They managed to reach the doors of the Capitol lobby, and there held them open for the others following them close behind, streaming into safety.

“You… I…”

“ _Now is not the time to feel fear or regret! Plenty of that exists all around us! I think no less of you for how you felt about her. I would only ask you to trust me now in turn, as you have come to trust her! As I trust her!_ ”

She paused, taking in his words, as another chunk of flaming sky smashed into a spire not far from them, making the ground shake and split open. She shook, but held fast to the door as the last of those coming inside passed her by.

“ _Your bond provides you with a measure of her power, and her office. Fourteen there are, to guide the Star upon it’s proper course, and Fourteen are needed. Even should one of them dissent_.”

“And she had good reason for it! Are you certain this is wise?”

“ _No! Not a one among us is certain. But I see no other way, now! The Star burns and our hopes and dreams become as dust against our fears! They are all around us now_!”

A stream of fiery sparks from the split in the earth. She could not entirely deny the words he spoke, but across the bond now flaring in this moment, she still knew something was wrong.

“ _We must act! We must do something! Or all of us will die! Her, and I, and you_!”

Relenting, as they closed the doors, some small specks of ash streaming in with them.

What would she think of her ward going against her wishes in support of this venture, which she had called madness? Shortsighted and irresponsible? Where in the world was she?

The bond gave no clues, seeming to warp as the cataclysm continued to play out around them.

Emet-Selch was now before her, bending down slightly to meet her eyes, and hold her face in his hands.

“ _I understand your trepidation, Ariadne. Were there any other way, she and I and the rest of the Convocation would have found it. She rails against the nature of this solution, as many of us did for some time. But there is no more time. No other solution presents itself, and no more time exists to find alternatives_.”

He removed his mask with a quick gesture, revealing golden eyes, the hue of honeydew in summer. Soft and understanding despite the present moment.

“ _She cared for you a great deal, and asked that I watch over you when she left, to find those she cares for beyond the city, to bring them here. I know not if she yet lives or if she has succeeded, but I have hope and faith in her. But in this moment, we must do what we can. And Zodiark is all we have left to give_.”

A hand in hers.

“ _You are not Azem; had things been different, however, you would have made a fine Traveler, and a worthy successor to my Persephone. And you possess the hint of her Ascension, through your bond. Whether she lives or not, you contain her aspect now in your soul. This alone will be sufficient for the summoning, to ensure we have all that we need_.”

“Why did she… why did she abandon us?”

“ _She did not abandon us, my friend. She follows her convictions now, still in service, if not in this role. Wherever they may lead. I do not agree with all that she has chosen to do, but I love her as much as I love the Star, and the people. I trust her to come back to us, one day. And that does not discount our present needs_.”

He rose again, turning to those souls assembled in the hall, huddled in whispering tones amongst themselves.

“ _Know you of the plan, my brothers and sisters_?”

A great many of them responded in the affirmative, with a few moments spent explaining the sacrifices to come to those latecomers who had followed Ariadne and Hades inside.

Without exception, each understood and accepted what was needed. What necessity demanded. Their lives for the Star.

They hoped to be worthy of the honour.

Ariadne took this in with a degree of fear, at their willingness to throw away their lives so readily for an untested solution, but even she understood. There was nothing else that could be done, and they would all be dead soon in any case. Better to cast aside pretense for a hope of salvation.

He turned back to her.

“ _Come; the Convocation gathers. Our work is largely complete, and the summoning will begin err long. If you will act in her stead, you must take her place_.”

She looked at the marble floor, lost in thought for a moment. Another explosion outside, shaking the building. Another small stream of souls, rushing through the doors, bringing the scent of brimstone in from outside.

There was no more time.

Please forgive me, Persephone.

“ _She will not forgive us, young one. Or, at least, not for a long time. But in service to the Star, all must be sacrificed and laid bare_.”

Tears from his eyes as he placed his mask back on his face.

“ _Even love_.”

He began to walk towards the door leading to the staircase upward, to the offices and the Convocation’s meeting hall. The place of summoning, above them.

“ _Come, my friend. Let us be about this_.”

She looked over to him, a small nod.

She followed, saying nary a word.

***

A jumble of scenes began to flood into Luciane’s mind, as she slept propped up unevenly against the stones of Moghome, in the Mists. As she walked each step of the Capitol as Amaurot burned, and entered the hall she now knew quite well from prior visions. Memories of the arcane words spoken; the souls gathered in sacrifice; hoods held low in prayer. The beseeching for salvation. The will of the Star made manifest in terrible, purple majesty, centered on the white form of Elidibus, prostrate before them.

The bitter words and accusations, against Azem. That she would think herself better than they in judging how best to save the world. Better than Zodiark, or any of those willing to lay down their lives and loves for peace, for salvation. To be saved.

Her seat destroyed, by Emet-Selch’s own hand, despite his words and protestations. Relenting to necessity. Their demands.

Her presence in that absent space, filling in a needed node along the leylines, surrounding now a god.

“A child in place of a traitor.”

“What a sad day this is, for our order.”

“She will require far more than a censure, when she returns. If she returns.”

Emet-Selch wept, softly, as they spoke to her, mocking tones and anger, diverting their stress and terror into something with which they could relieve themselves of their guilt. She stood silent and did her duty, accepting necessity.

Unable to do anything now for him. For her.

Her will subsumed, in part, by His coming.

Lahabrea with a hand on her shoulder.

Elidibus, encased in crystal.

A looming visage, arms crossed.

“It is done.”

A thunderclap.

The sun setting, on the horizon.

All went dark.

***

Tiny fragments of a life after danced within her mind, where Amaurot knew the sun again, but was a rubble strewn wreck, far from its former glory. Azem was nowhere to be found. In her place, Ariadne had assumed the mantle, albeit provisionally. No true member of the Convocation, but a devoted servant of Zodiark’s will, like all the rest.

Tempered in His service, her prior misgivings and fears gone in the reassuring embrace of their god.

Right up until Hydaelyn came, and sundered them all.

Her last memory of Ariadne was of her walking in the garden of the Cocytus Library, now a ruin, idle after a long day doing some task she no longer could remember. A red mask on her face. Feeling the absence of something she no longer could put a finger on. Looking over a bed of flowers finally starting to bloom after a long absence.

A wave of light, passing over all things.

Screaming.

Blinding light.

***

**“You belong to another, child. In this, you cannot be what it is I seek.”**

**“Go, and turn your gaze to her, my wayward child. Watch over her. And pray for the future.”**

Hydaelyn?

The blue light went dark, never to return to her sight, at least not in dreams.

A long pause, floating in a void.

***

“Place the firewood just there, if you please.”

“Yes, Persephone.”

A forest, near the shore of a river. A clear night. A full moon. Crickets and the music of the evening. A soft breeze, blowing through the trees. A waterfall, off to one side, gently splashing water. The odd bird and crackling of the fire as it flared to life.

“Our tasks are all done for the day. Come, sit with me.”

An overturned log, a fallen tree. She placed herself down upon it, removing her mask to stretch her limbs and aether and find some comfort in familiar company.

Azem did the same, a shining sun in the midst of the night, shining before her, as she made her way to the log with their meals.

They ate largely in silence, somewhat exhausted from yet another day tracking malformed beasts, and the red crystals popping up along seams in the earth in various places in this forest, far from home. More samples collected. More worries left unspoken.

The bond remained tense at it often was, these days. In this moment, however, it seemed to relax.

They’d been away from Amaurot for a long time, doing an extensive survey of the extent of the recent emanations across the Star. The largest and longest yet, in tandem with many others who had volunteered their time and expertise. The Convocation back home, frantically taking in all information brought back, seeking answers.

It was still some time yet before the end, though in this moment, neither of them had any real idea.

Persephone hadn’t seen Hades in a while. They’d been very busy, of course. Oftentimes, Ariadne had been her only companion on the long road. Both of them were now very weary wanderers indeed, and perhaps more aware than any other as to the extent of the troubles facing the health of their world.

It wore down on them both. In this, they found some small, desperately needed peace in this moment of warmth, safety, and each other’s company.

“I would give anything to be back in my bed in the apartment back home, right now.” Sore limbs, and a few cracked knuckles as she turned her head and arms around to limber them up again as she sat.

Persephone nodded, finishing the last of her food.

“Once this is all over, I’m putting in for a vacation for both of us. We’ll drag Hades somewhere warm, and sit on a beach under a blue sky.”

Her eyebrows went up a little at this.

“Us?”

A sly smile on her lips.

“Mhmm? Oh, tis just an idle thought. Naught more, my good secretary.”

She was doing it again.

“No, you were implying you’d take me with you on a vacation, with you and him.”

She turned, a more serious continence. She was worn out, but still smiling a bit as she talked.

“And why not? The world seems to be ending. Whatever else happens, I’ll drag you both somewhere warm if I have to. I want you both to be there.”

“And why would you want that?”

“Because I just do.”

She was holding something back, something that had been hidden for quite some time. Buried under everything that had been demanding their mutual attention. Now gradually relenting under the barrage of Ariadne’s pressing questions, borne of longer familiarity and shared sacrifices.

“And he would be fine with that? They would be fine with that?”

A pause.

“I… I have thought about it, for a long time. Since that first conversation, in my office. This bond between us. And the balance between us.”

She shifted slightly, placing her plate down on the ground and turning to face her ward.

“There was, as I spoke true that day, an imbalance of power and role between us. Or, at least, there was. Back then. When this was a new arrangement, and you were just my peer. And you remain my friend.”

Another pause.

“I’ve come to realize, however, over the course of these last few months and years, even with all that’s been going on… that I care about you a great deal. As I came to care about him, in the days when he would visit me within the Library and dote on me endlessly, acting as if I could not see the way he regarded me. How he cared for me.”

Her eyes were soft, radiant.

“I see that in you too, how you look at me and act around me, but you express it differently from him. In the way you share my burdens. In the way you make the same mistakes as me. In the ways that you overcome those mistakes, and help me see with your keen eyes the paths hidden even to Azem. Even to me.”

She was speechless. Mouth slowly coming agape, eyes wider now, despite fatigue.

A hand in hers now.

“I am someone for whom the road calls, and for whom my heart ties itself to many others, near and far. Old and new. Hades is dear to me, and perhaps the brightest star in my sky. But I would be remiss if I did not admit he was not the first, nor will he be the last, to capture my attention, and hold me close in the evening’s waning light.”

Another hand in hers.

“He and I spoke about this matter, some time ago. Of the bond. He accepted, when we began our relationship, long before we were bonded in truth before Amaurot and the Convocation, that should others cross our paths, we would be open to them, and share them and share in their lights. And bring them in turn into our hearts and our home, if they so desired. Never to diminish our love, but enrich it further, by enriching ourselves.”

She was growing closer.

“I was not wrong to deny you, before. You were younger then, and needed time to find more of yourself. Like I saw you do that day we met, long ago, in Anamnesis. And in the moment I took you on as my assistant. And in truth, what you needed more before was a friend, something I was glad to provide.”

A hand now on her cheeks. Eyes eclipsing the forest and the stars in the sky.

“But now? Now I see a woman. A beautiful soul bright against the encroaching dark. Facing these same struggles head on, striving despite the severity of these trials. The pain of loss. The fears. The long nights. You persist, and never give up. You’ve grown more fully into your own self, and in turn, have even come to share a semblance of my role, both across the bond and on your own terms.”

Her forehead against Ariadne’s, warmth building slowly but surely between them.

“I could not have imagined that, when we met, that you would become so much brighter in the sky than even I had intimated at, when we spoke upon leaving Anamnesis. But you have. And I am so very proud of you, and proud to call you my friend.”

“I… thank you… Persephone.”

“Tell me, weary wanderer, how you feel. Worry not, you are in the company of a dear friend.”

She was now teasing her a bit, drawing out what she knew her friend was thinking. A maelstrom of emotion, thoughts blurring in the light of those endless eyes.

She spurted out the first words that could find purchase in her mind.

“I love you.”

“Oho, I see.”

A finger trailing up along her cheek, massaging it.

“And why might that be? What have I done to make you feel so? This is not an easy road to walk, after all. And I am a harsh light, when times are tough. Tell me, why do you follow me?”

The words came out almost all at once, rushed.

“Because you’ve been everything, an endless inspiration to me. A constant beacon on the horizon to follow, guiding me. Even before we met, I felt drawn to you, and your adventures. Wanted to share in them. Held back only by time and duty and the feeling of inadequacy. That I would never measure up to you. To him.”

“And I can tell you true, now, that as you are? You would be an Azem worthy of song.”

She retracted slightly, taking a breath and allowing Ariadne to do the same.

“I know not what waits for us on the morrow, Ariadne. I know only that, for tonight, I have come to this conclusion; that I am grateful for you, and grateful that you came into my life, regardless of the circumstances. And that, when all is said and done, I would want to embrace this bond, whatever it’s reason for being is. And know you. And allow you the same opportunity.”

Now close again, barely half an ilm from her lips. A whisper.

“If you are willing.”

Her answer another rush of emotion, down her body, down the bond, as she raised her hands up, drew Persephone in close, and kissed her.

***

“Observe with intent.”

Eyes running over her robe, falling away.

“Overlook not the smallest detail.”

Drinking in her skin, and the beauty of her soul’s colour, a mix of blue and purple. And a tinge of orange.

“Discern your subject’s unique characteristics.”

Her eyes, always her eyes. The small of her back. The way her legs intertwined with yours. Subtle freckles.

“Recognize the patterns of their behaviour.”

Her tongue. And her fingers. Playful. Wandering. Ever eager to find new and enticing cracks and crevices to explore.

“Yours is the vision to see the path ahead, to walk the path of lesser tragedy.”

A night spent together, without any worries. Just them. And eyes placed upon one another, regarding their bond, and their future. Whatever it might be. Whatever it might become.

“If you are willing.”

“I am, Persephone. And I will always keep you close to my heart.”

In the morning, they parted from that space with a smile, hands held together. The coming months to be a trial even greater than those previous, and only growing in the weights that they added to their hearts. But for Ariadne, it was made ever so slightly more bearable, for that one evening of release, and the chance to find a story all her own, in the arms of another. To sing and let her soul swim in lover’s embrace. To know she was not alone, even as the world around them seemed to fall apart.

She dreamed of a day when all of this was over, and she could not only take that journey with her and him but write words for them, for her, more naked in their meaning than bared flesh. Stronger in their reaction than bone, bracing an impact. More resilient in their endurance in the memory of the hearer than sinewed muscle, straining to hold back the end.

A note more sensitive than any nerve, to span time and space.

They held out together for as long as they could, up until the moment Persephone left. Following her heart, as ever she had.

Ariadne never forgot, even when all else was lost. Even when Zodiark claimed her, and even when Hydaelyn broke her.

She always held her close to her heart. Through all the ages of the world. In this sense, she was like him.

And now, she would finally get the chance to share her song with them.

***

Sunshine over the Mists, as she awoke slowly, with blurred vision, straining to make out the tall shadow in front of her.

“ _My my… I had not expected to see you, of all people, sleeping when there is so much work to be done_!”

“That’s rich, coming from you, mister naps all the time!”

“ _Unlike either of you, I’ve lived a very, very long time. I get tired in my old age, is all. We’ll see how you feel about naps in the shade when you get to be eras old_!”

“Wha… who?”

“ _Hm, she’s waking up. Come here my dear, she’ll need a helping hand to get up. She looks like she’s been sleeping here quite a while_.”

“You take her left hand; I’ll take her right.”

Under her left arm now came a large, leathery warmth. A jacket, hemmed with white fur lining and golden regalia, fit for an emperor.

Under her right arm, a silken robe, black and flame retardant, creased with silver and the flaring spikes of elder days.

Two forms now, shadows of one another and now of her, raising her up from her spot on the ground propped against the standing stone.

Emet-Selch. And Sarah.

“Good afternoon, sleepyhead! It’s afternoon now, lest you wonder. You’ve been out such a long time Mogta sent a moogle to come looking for someone to wake you. He had a feeling I’d be an ideal candidate. We were nearby, in Tailfeather, on our way to the hinterlands on an important journey, and came rushing up the mountain once he mentioned who it was.”

Her head went down, concealed under her brimming wizard’s hat.

“I feel… ashamed, in truth. I forgot to come and see you sooner, when I returned to the Source. Here you’ve been grappling with all these memories and the Echo all on your own while I’ve been gallivanting about with him and my friends, oblivious to your needs.”

Hades smirked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“ _She often has a habit for forgetting important details, though that is admittedly a common condition of the modern age we find ourselves in now. A good thing then, that I should be on hand to help you remember_.”

“You didn’t remember any of this in the stone either, before you start gloating.”

“ _And while I have an abiding annoyance for moogles and everything about them, particularly the grating way in which they attach the word ‘kupo’ to everything in creation, I will say that in this one instance, they were useful to us_.”

He now turned to smile at Luciane.

“ _They’ve shown us where your wayward secretary had deposited herself. Hello… Ariadne. I’ve heard from Sarah in the span of a bell as we climbed all about you and what you’ve been up to since we last spoke_.”

His gloved hand on her shoulder now. He wore a Garlean’s body, and the trappings of a king. It was passing strange, though she was largely speechless again and focused on their words.

“ _A Guildmaster and teacher to our mutual affection in her ‘youth’? Truly, I could not ask for more than to continually have revealed to me just how many of our friends and loves managed to stumble along fate’s wheel into her midst, even in ignorance. I am very glad to meet you, Luciane_.”

Now he bowed, very dramatically, a hand waved off to one side, barely missing striking Mogta as he flew in close from off to one side.

“ _Emperor Solus zos Galvus of the Garlean Empire, at your service, child of the forest_.”

“Hades, you promised you’d save that particular revelation for AFTER we got her back down the mountain and settled her nerves. She’s clearly in enough shock as it is from whatever it was she saw!”

“ _Oh come now, her eyes tell the tale. She wants to know why I look so similar and yet so different from how I was! I must surely oblige her, no_?”

She shook her head, glaring at him, before turning with a more reassuring visage to Luciane.

“Again, I am sorry for not arriving sooner. I was waylaid with making certain he would be accepted by the Scions, the Alliance, my friends, Eorzea in general. Explaining matters. Easing fears. The usual grandiose stuff that seems to attend me always.”

“ _Fate is ever sure to follow you, my dear. Though I suspect the same can be said for her, now. She remembers what she did for us_.”

“As you told me just now, before she awoke. I can’t believe you kept that detail from me before however.”

“ _Some of the things I withhold from you are for the reason that I cannot possibly remember everything, actively or often. But sometimes, the reason is, as it is now, that she would be better equipped than I to explain her reasoning. And in any case then, it is not my place to speak for her_.”

He beckoned to Luciane.

“ _Go on then, tell her what you saw_.”

Still overwhelmed by all of this, she gradually managed to calm herself, exhale, and then began to share her vision, this latest dream. Fresh in her mind…

***

When she had concluded, there was silence for a long time, as the three of them processed her words and the visions.

Mogta’s moogle tones the only real sound aside from the wind, as he came in turn to look over each of the assembled Ascians and speak the first thing to come to his mind.

“You know, it sounds an awful lot to me like she belongs to this Zodiark fellow now, kupo. And to you as well!” He gestured to Sarah, tipping his green hat in congratulation.

“Oh it is so lovely to bear witness to heartfelt reunions, even if they are complicated by so many twisting fates. It’s enough to make my pom spin!”

A glare from Emet-Selch sent him reeling back a bit, as they returned to their musing for another moment before Luciane finally spoke again.

“I’m so sorry, Sarah. I’m so sorry that I didn’t… that I didn’t stop them or say something… that I let this happen.”

Tears in her eyes, as she relented to Ariadne’s feelings, and the regret she had felt even as the summoning had occurred, prior to it washing away in Zodiark’s embrace. Sarah said nothing for a time, eyes down, lost in thought. Her face shadowed by her hat’s wide brim. Emet chose instead to speak.

“ _He did indeed claim you, Luciane. But because of the Sundering, you did not remember it or anything else, and so unlike me and my brothers, your connection to Him was broken; a sundered member of our order not all that different from those who held fast to their seats and came to be Ascended in turn over the long ages. His aspect and power remains dormant but present within you still, and I believe that is why Hydaelyn recoils from claiming you, as she otherwise probably would._ ”

He smirked, thinking on how curious this whole situation was, and how much moreso it must seem to them both, with their mortal perspectives.

“ _A Warrior of Darkness. An Ascian, in the technical sense. But most of all… an Azem_.”

He snapped his fingers, and the three of them now found themselves wearing the black robes of the Ascians, clawed gloves, dark leather boots and all, swaying in the breeze. Mogta, at this sight, covered his face in his tiny hands and backed off a bit, shivering.

Emet shook his head as he regarded the moogle for a moment before returning to Luciane.

“ _By your actions, you fulfilled the need of a moment and changed the world as surely as I did, and those others of the Convocation who, unlike Persephone, unlike Sarah, accepted the necessity of our hour growing late, and railed against it. We created the circumstances for all that came after, and then, in the case of myself, Elidibus and Lahabrea, laboured to undo our mistakes and set the world aright, albeit with Zodiark’s will in mind_.”

His eyes softened a bit, sadness in his continence now.

“ _I am glad you were spared the suffering, both then, and afterwards, that I have seen. And that she has, in her own ways… and I am glad that you were spared His will, beyond those brief months when the world remained whole_.”

“No… Angel. I must apologize to you.”

She remembered a great deal now, in his presence, and hers. More like you with each memory and moment as she spoke.

“I must apologize for coming between you both, and for not doing more to help you, after she left. We had only each other, oftentimes, in those months. But I drifted away from you, in His service but also in sorrow at her loss. I did not want to remind you of her, nor did I want you to remind me of her. But I should have been there when the end truly came, so that I could have seen all this through with you, and helped you find her, together. I wanted to find her. I know that now.”

She sunk her head downward, looking down at these ornate robes that, though previously unfamiliar, now felt appropriate somehow.

“I should have been there for you, as she wanted to be, and as she surely wanted me to be for you. Even with the mistakes we both made. So that you need not be all alone. Even if it meant serving Zodiark, and all the rest.”

He chuckled at this; she didn’t entirely understand what she was saying, given what he had experienced. But it was a kind sentiment, all the same.

“ _You sound like her, you know. How you were, but also like Persephone. Like Sarah. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this was what you found in this moment. What you both found back then, together, out on the road. In these specific recollections, though, admittedly, I was unaware she ever actually consummated anything with you. Curious…_ ”

A shaken head, after a moment of thought.

“ _To me, as perhaps you are now to her, you are Azem in truth. In your soul, and how you carry yourself. Even though you never took the seat in full, and though she now retains it in full, you were indeed a worthy candidate and would have served the Star admirably, if things had been different. You served to bring forth Zodiark, and acted in her stead afterwards as well as you could. A bond, unbroken_.”

He smiled at her, in the way he often did when looking at Sarah, ever since their reunion on the First.

“ _What’s done is done… but now, we can at least take some small solace in one another. And the future she has won for us both, and chases ever after. We can help her chase after it, together_.”

They both came to regard Sarah, who had turned briefly to the sky, and the sun above, looking over the clouds in thought.

She turned to face them, her specifically.

“You didn’t come between us, Ariadne. Then or now. And Luciane, certainly, you must realize by now that you were better off unaware of all of this, for however many lives you’ve lived from that time to now. Better off without the burdens, without being worn down by eras of causing misery in slavery to a false deity, even if you had to go against my wishes in the same weakness of a desperate moment that they all relented to, him included.”

She still shook her head in disagreement. She felt unequal to their suffering too.

“Even so… I can’t believe I went all this time oblivious to so much that was so important to me.”

“You weren’t oblivious to everything important to you, my friend.”

Another familiar voice, a surprising one at that, now coming closer from elsewhere, to her left. One she could not have expected to find at the top of the world.

Kan-e-Senna, with her three Entwined Serpents, her bodyguards, behind her, walking towards her through the grass and flowers.

“Hello, Luciane. It is good to see you again, and in fine company. Strange as it might be.”

She glanced at Emet for a moment, still processing that particular revelation for herself.

“Full glad am I to see you healthy and whole again, and with such passion in your voice as you always held. Your father would be so proud, to see you now and how far you’ve come.”

“Seedseer! What are you… how… why are you here?!?”

“I often come to Moghome to see Chief Moglin and the moogles who live here. I once came here in the company of Estinien, Ysayle, Alphinaud and Sarah, in different times, and came into their acquaintance. Seeking to forge new bonds of peace with mooglekind. I strive after that still, ensuring peace persists, especially now after war and primal summonings have diminished in fair Eorzea, for the nonce.”

She approached slowly to Luciane, before leaning in to hug her and balancing her weight on her staff, heedless of her friend’s current attire, eliciting a small degree of tears from the former Guildmaster with her warmth and words.

“I often visit the Archer’s Guild of late as well, expecting as I once did to find you there in your same place, smiling after me, only to find instead loyal Silvairre, the two of us often coming to reminisce over your time with us. You are dearly missed, my friend. But to see you now, here in the company of other, older friends…”

She looked over to Sarah with a smile.

“I imagine Aymeric and the other leaders will be processing this for quite a while; we’ve already been speaking about him, and all the rest. Word travels faster even than you, Warrior of Light. But unlike some of my peers, I am more willing to be open to what his presence brings, and especially because of what I’ve come to learn here today. About Luciane.”

She turned back to her.

“Ariadne, was it? A beautiful name for a beautiful soul. A teacher to many, and a guide in our home for countless years. Inspirational and pure of heart, always with the truth at your lips, even when so many of us were blind sighted by our narrow perspectives. Our fears. You saw what we could not even see in one another, let alone in those who came seeking succor in the forest’s shelter. Just like your father once did, you possess boundless compassion and a keen sight. You did the elementals proud, and brought prosperity to the Twelveswood. As you surely must have done in her day. In this ‘Amaurot’ of old.”

Her staff passed over to one side, taken in hand by one of her guards with a nod. Hands on Luciane’s shoulders, having to tip toe a bit to reach her height.

“I formally bestow again upon you the title of Archer’s Guildmaster… in emeritus. A title you earned, and may retain forevermore, even if it is a bit less illustrious than Azem the Traveler. We will always remember you as our straight and true arrow, piercing the darkness in our hearts. And though he holds the title as well, Silvairre and the rest of the guild send their best regards to you and hope that their Guildmaster will come visit them again soon. Gridania and their hall will always be your home, no matter where you may roam.”

Luciane could, at this, no longer contain the rush of gratitude and emotion that overcame her now, doubling over into Senna’s arms and weeping happily. Sarah and Emet smiled as well, exchanging knowing glances; Senna played it off as a happy accident, but in truth, it had been Sarah’s idea to call on the Seedseer to come forth to Moghome for this reunion. A gesture of gratitude for all involved, and one borne of love. And it had been a convenient means of broaching a great many subjects with her, Emet himself included, and with Gridania.

Senna had many things to explain when she returned to the forest, now. But she was happier now to do so, knowing her good friend was in good hands.

As the three of them came now to comfort Luciane and chat happily with her about a number of subjects, bringing her up to speed on recent events, Mogta clapped and twirled around happily. His small part in this tale concluded, he retreated back to Moghome proper, there to write down for himself a memory of this moment and, perhaps later, record it for song. Something for future adventurers, and long lost lovers.

***

Dusk was present in the sky by the time all the words, the tears and the goodbyes had been shed and spoken, and the three old friends found themselves back where Emet and Sarah had begun this unexpected detour; descending on flying mounts back down towards Tailfeather. The hamlet had been where they had planned to spend the night anyways, in the company of the other Scions who travelled with them. In their absence whilst attending to Luciane, Krile, Urianger and Y’shtola had set about preparing for their return, gathering extra supplies for the road tomorrow and a gift for the Guildmaster.

A beautiful bow, made of iron oak, maple and a pinch of creation magic; Hythlodaeus coming once again to remember how to manipulate with Y’shtola’s deft hands a weaker aetheric pool into something alike to what the stewards of the Star had once done as routine. And with a little help from her friends.

She and Krile had just finished painting it in stars and other artistic patterns as Luciane came to land Twintania in the middle of town, to the great surprise of the assembled hunters, who had come to gawk at the strange scene of a Warrior of Light, Archer’s Guildmaster, and Garlean Emperor, visiting their humble corner of creation for an evening.

“My lady, it is good to see you again! And in the august presence of fair Luciane, come hither anew from the heavens to grace our constellation with her light. I beseech you in gladness; regale us of your reunion, so we may share in its joy.”

Sarah smiled, only rolling her eyes a bit at the way Urianger attempted to mimic with his tone and posture Emet-Selch’s flair for the dramatic, a detail not lost on him in turn as he also came to dismount from Sarah’s Ozma, and stretch for a moment before approaching.

“We will my friend, promise. I suspect our hosts will appreciate the stories too, and a good meal shared in eclectic company, hmm?”

“ _Indeed, my dear. We’ll make it something to remember_.”

Luciane, for her part, patted the side of Twintania, thanking her again for a memorable flight before desummoning her with a click of the Allagan key, and approaching quickly to Y’shtola and Krile’s side to accept her gift with a squeak of delight. She would later, with their assistance and that of Sarah and Emet, meld her old bow and her one from Master Beatin into this new one, to create a bow of surpassing stopping power and tensile strength. Imbued with a dual aspect of umbral and astral elements, cool to the touch, softly glowing when held in her hands.

It turned her arrows to either Darkness or Light at her command. A heritage of her lingering Blessing from Zodiark, which Emet now taught her to coax forth with due care, and her soul bond with Sarah, sharing in a sliver of her own Blessing of Light, and the light of Azem. In this way, she came to find a tiny spark of hope; that she would find a way to be a balance between them, and between her especially and her past, rather than an imbalance awkward and lingering. An integral part of their own stories, as they had come to be important to her new one. Her old story, dear to Ariadne’s heart.

They spent the evening and long into the night sharing tales and singing songs in the company of the hamlet’s hunters and their chocobos. Songs of the Dragonsong War, the Autumn War, the Final Days, and more recent days. Songs of oblivion, and of hope. Of love. And of reunions.

At the end of the evening, when all others had retired to their beds and Emet had retired to the Azem stone to give them privacy, Luciane sang her song for Sarah, by the simmering embers of the last fire, soft on the breeze but close enough to hear. A song of her feelings, and her devotion. Her gratitude, and her hopes and dreams. Of her lament for days long gone, and her joy at days to come.

A song that only ended when their lips came to meet in the darkness of the waning light, much to Luciane’s surprise, and delight.

To this, she sang a final verse, before they retired to rest.

**_If it please you,_ **

**_Pray, stay with me,_ **

**_Show me the ways of your heart,_ **

**_One more time._ **

****

**_And wait for me, as I will wait for you,_ **

**_At duty’s end, whatever comes._ **

**_And I will remember you,_ **

**_All the days of my life._ **

Luciane’s voice carrying on the breeze and into the heavens above, a stirring soul for all to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In addition to the normal italicization of Emet-Selch's words and speech present in all my works, I have bolded the words of Hydaelyn here, and given definition where possible to important pieces of the work to add definition to them. I am still exploring ways of clarifying who is speaking and the 'weight' of a given speech in a scene when necessary, without relying overmuch on dialogue cuts and name drops. This work reflects a process of development of my craft in that sense.
> 
> As a final note as well, I might add an epilogue to this piece soon. One can perhaps guess what that epilogue will contain, if one is a careful reader of the text.


End file.
